Do You Love Me After All
by RndGirl
Summary: Sequel to my first story Maybe Our Paths Will Cross Again. Story about John and Nathalie, Makarov's daughter, continues two years from the ending of the first story.
1. Prologue

This is a second part of my story series about my OC and John MacTavish. Nathalie is Vladimir Makarov's daughter and things with her life are quite complicated. If you want you can read the first story too but I don't think it will be too complicated to sort this story out even with the background story.

This story will have more swearing and graphic elements of torture, rape, and maybe sex (if the things work out for Nathalie and John, we'll see) in later chapters. I will put the warnings in the beginning.

* * *

Two years passed since the events of the last chapter of Maybe Our Paths Will Cross Again. Do You Love Me After All beginning is set in 2015.

During that time Nathalie and John didn't have many chances to meet. After the Operation Kingfish which was in October of 2013 John came back for the holidays and visited Nathalie on her birthday. From then she only got a few calls from him. Both of them were busy with their military work: Nathalie was keen on making her team worthy of the name they were given "Power of Steel", her training was ruthless at first more to just forget everything about her past and parting with John but later it grew as a hunger to be a strong and worthy leader. And for John hunting Makarov was a priority, no matter how much he tried to deny the fact he saw part of Makarov in Nathalie he just couldn't. His love for her was strong and all he wanted to do was be with her but before he could do that he had to eradicate the evil from the face of the earth.

Nathalie knew she was close to being promoted again. The squad grew stronger and stronger with each day of training and missions that they went to prove that the hard work paid off. Despite the fact that she learnt everything about the combat was from the dark side of her past she did a really great job teaching others the certain ways of killing. Now even in the UK or specifically in the base she was assigned to know her as Karma. Unimaginably beautiful woman that brought people what they deserved. Those who cared about her got her protection and those who despised her and tried to go against felt what complete destruction meant.

Over that period of time Nathalie didn't come in contact with her father at all. She got a few calls from Nikolai asking how she and John were doing but that was the only contact with Russia for her.

* * *

"What's taking you so long?" Jason shouted out his question from the living room.

"I am fucking getting ready. Don't you dare to hurry me, you fuckface." Answered Nathalie from the bathroom. She was putting on her make up that she got so rarely to use. It was her birthday after all and she wanted to be pretty. Nathalie begged Lt. Colonel Watson to give a week of vacation for her and Simons so she could celebrate birthday and visit her family. Visiting the family part wasn't going well as they were visiting Madeline's parents so the only thing that they could do was celebrate the birthday.

"Princess, you look great any way..." Whined Simons. He was waiting for a good hour for her to get ready. It usually didn't take her long enough to get ready and the main problem was her checking the phone every few minutes. And Jason was growing restless not really sure what to do while waiting. "Princess, come out no..." The door from the bathroom opened Jason was left breathless when he saw how wildly intimidating and sexy his superior can be. She was wearing a red blouse and black jeans that made it easier to see her feminine but worked out shapes and in addition to the look she had red stilettos. Nathalie walked closer to Jason mashing her phone with sadness and frustration filling her heart.

"Geez. You are hotter than hell." Said Simons standing right in front of her. She was still shorter than him even with the massive heels her shoes had. Jason grabbed and just pulled her phone out of her hand. "Can you even hear me over the stupid fucking hope he will call you? He had a whole year to do it and didn't so forget it. Fuck him. Fuck MacTavish."

"Oh, I'd fuck him real well if he was here." She said and looked up to Jason who threw her phone on the couch.

"Sweet lord, you are a horny woman. Let's go out now." Said Jason and put his arm around her waist to pull her to the door.

Nathalie mumbled something about not having a man for a year while she took her coat from a hanger and putting it on. She sighed looking at Blue who walked up to the door hoping to come too. Silver smiled taking her purse and pushed Jason out of the door trying to keep her dog inside. "You are not coming with us today. Sorry buddy but you'll have to stay."

They walked outside of the building and down the street. There was a nice bar three blocks away and Nathalie insisted on going there by foot. Being honest Jason was still dazed by the change of her looks and her ability to keep going on shoes like that. After years of seeing her in baggy clothes and uniforms the new sight really kept his roof going up. He could barely keep his head straight. Not like he didn't like her appearance or her overall. He admitted to himself that he liked more than he could have allowed to.

The bar wasn't full when they arrived and they settled down at the table with a couple of drinks. Nathalie looked around at the people drinking and dancing, just enjoying themselves. She looked back to Jason and smiled trying to hide the fact that she wasn't happy at all.

"So what do we do now?" Asked Simons taking his beer.

"Get completely wasted, dance on the bar, and get kicked out." Said Nathalie and took a sip from her glass of whiskey.

"You think this is a great way to celebrate your birthday?"

"Well, we can get drunk and talk about the meaning of life." Offered Nathalie and laughed upon seeing Jason's disgusted expression. "I guess that's not a preferred choice."

"No, it's better than dancing on the bar. I am terrible dancer." He said and drank some of his beer. He kept starring at the bottle with mixed feelings that Nathalie couldn't read. Jason looked somewhat troubled and sad. "So, princess," he began saying and looked up to her eyes that were so beautiful. "What is this life for you?"

Nathalie looked down at her hands and thought of what to say. She never searched for the meaning of her life, she just pushed through every day sometimes just trying to survive and at better days trying make the best of it. "I don't think my life has a meaning. The more I think about what I did and what I might be doing in the future just gives me a headache." She said and took another sip of her drink. Nathalie gripped the glass at the thought of her past. "I can describe my past with one word: void."

"Can it really be that bad? How someone as bright and strong as you can think of life as void?"

"Dude, you've seen my scars and not all of them are from the battle wounds. Growing up wasn't as pleasant for me. You can imagine how bad it was if I got to the point of self-harm and even suicide."

"I feel you." Said Jason and Nathalie looked up to him in surprise. He never seemed like a good person but Nathalie never even bothered to think of what made him that way. She didn't take any thought of what was the reason he was acting like a dick and what was hiding deep inside. Jason shook his head and before chugging his beer he said "Life sucks."

"What makes you think so?"

"Everything: My past, my future, and the ways I reach my goals. You know that for yourself."

"True. You're a cunt." Laughed Nathalie at the thought of many times they fought. From the very first time he used her to get into the team to the current day though every time she managed to kick his ass.

"How come we always end up insulting each other?"

"Well it's because you deserve it." Said Nathalie and finished her drink.

"Like you are any better than me, you crazy bitch."

"Take it back."

"Never."

They laughed at their situation but soon their laughter died down. It was somewhat awkward but comforting at the same time. Both of them shared some dark secrets.

After quite a few drinks and hours of talking, fighting, and calling names they decided to go back home. Just as they walked outside Jason picked Nathalie up over his shoulder and started carrying her towards the home. She cried out for help being so surprised of his actions. After a couple of minutes of struggling she gave in and let him carry her. By the door of the apartment block he set her down back on her feet and they entered the building.

"Be my hero and get me to the bed." She said giving him the keys from her flat.

Jason laughed at her and picked her up but this time he held her in bridal style and carried up the stairs to the door. He carefully unlocked the door and entered the flat but immediately Blue started jumping around them. Nathalie started laughing at him and Simons who was struggling to walk forward.

"Mind getting your dog out of the way. Otherwise we won't make it to your bed."

"Ha, you're weak. And what do you mean by 'we'?" Nathalie held tight onto Jason's shoulders and started swinging her legs. "My phone. My phone!"

Simons sighed and walked to the couch in the living room to let her pick up her phone. Nathalie got all excited when she unlocked it and saw a message and couple of missed calls. Before Jason could carry her to the bedroom her expression changed. Sad smile crept onto her face when she read Russian words on her screen. He saw the unfamiliar symbols that brought a little happiness to Nathalie but destroyed all hope that he loved her. Jason carefully carried her to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed and sat next to her.

"I give up." She whispered and threw her phone over her shoulder. Nathalie leaned down to take off her shoes and her hair fell down her shoulders covering her face but Jason noticed tears running down her cheeks. When she sat back up straight he carefully brushed off her hair and stroked her cheek. "I'm stupid, aren't I?" She asked and looked him in the eyes. Nathalie took the silver chain with a heart that John gifted to her and aggressively pulled it off her neck making it pop and leave scratch marks on her neck.

"I am so stupid." She said and crawled over the bed pulling away from Jason. Nathalie opened her nightstand's drawer and dropped it in. All sorts of emotions boiled inside her and she just dropped down helplessly trying to forget everything.

"Princess..." She heard Jason say as he crawled closer to her. "If every time we go drinking you end up feeling, looking, and acting like shit I'm not taking you drinking anymore." He leaned onto his elbow and looked at her smiling. She was still in her coat and those fancy clothes, her make-up was a little smudged from tears but overall for an emotional wreck she looked really good.

"Look how the tables were turned. The person who loves me abandoned me and the person who hates me is now comforting me." Silver said and laughed with a painful expression on her face. She managed to get rid of her coat still lying on the bed and rolled onto her side to be closer to Simons. "This is the worst birthday ever."

"Darling, it's not that bad. I mean you're not alone. And despite the fact that I hate you I don't mind sharing a bed with you." Said Jason and put his arm round her waist. He giggled when Nathalie rolled her eyes. Throughout the years with Silver they got into loads of various situations but it was the first time they shared a bed and in a non-sexual way. Simons had a strange feeling of comfort being with her that he never felt before. He pulled her closer and whispered. "Sleep well. We will have a horrible hangover tomorrow."

Nathalie chuckled and relaxed by his side. He didn't even know that his hangover was going to be worse than her. Growing up in Russia had its benefits.

* * *

At the end of the week they were back in the base and Nathalie was bullying Jason. Rank had its perks and putting that annoying dipshit to his place was one of them. The fact that they slept together after getting wasted in the bed meant nothing to Silver except the fact that their friend - enemy relationship grew stronger. She tried to get over MacTavish and Simons was with her for years though John had a place in her heart that she couldn't just let go whereas Jason was just a bond she made over the years of service. Her feelings were mixed up and it was difficult to understand who she hated or liked more.

Because of Nathalie's hard work the team was living up to its name and Lt. Colonel invited the team to briefing about their situation. They didn't have a clear target for mission but there was a person all of their missions were directed at. Makarov. He was getting big with politics in Russia but he was also big in terrorism all over Europe and Asia. Human trafficking was most notable and he was known for selling young women from Eastern Europe into prostitution. Once the "product" reached UK everyone got concerned. They tried to track him, his dealers, his buyers, and trafficking routes. Other British soldier teams tried investigating all of the locations but found nothing useful. Makarov knew how to hide his tracks.

"First you will go on a month long training in Eastern countries. NATO is trying to make sure we cooperate. It's just a walk in a park for you but it will be a great deal for the foreigners." Explained Watson while everyone else just looked through files of information gathered about Makarov. "After that you will follow the tracks of this psychopath. Even though it's all just breadcrumbs now, we might be able to get something more."

"Why the internationals not doing anything about this matter?" Asked Lieutenant mentioning John's task force. She hated the name and rather didn't say it aloud avoiding anything that had to do with him.

"Their leader is an asshole. Says they only take serious information and not random guesses." Answered Colonel thinking of Shepherd. He was the leader of the whole thing and John was just a field commander but he could've nagged him into checking the information.

"So no backup from them? We're in some deep shit if we are on our own, sir." Nathalie shook her head at the thought of meeting her father in battlefield. He was a genius when it came to the fighting; could create the most brilliant strategy when ambushed over the span of five minutes. "Had an encounter with the man. Still gives shivers when I think of it. Russians, people who taught him everything he knows can't deal with him."

"The country is a mess and can't deal with their shit and that's why we are needed. If it was up to me you'd be staying home but I got orders from above."

Nathalie nodded even knowing that it was a fucked up situation. She had a month to prepare herself for whatever was waiting for them in Russia and it wasn't anything good. Everyone knew that it wasn't going to end well.

* * *

Nathalie and Jason kept their tradition of making chocolate brownies in the middle of the night every month or so but it was cancelled because they were supposed to pack things for leaving to Eastern Europe. Nathalie felt uneasy knowing that the days to the next encounter with her father were slowly passing. She had some sort of regret for actually joining the military because it's unavoidable to fight against him and to shooting him. It was her job and she knew perfectly that no matter how much she hated him some part of her wouldn't allow killing him. Makarov was still her father and he tried to make it up to her, not to forget even as she was wearing enemy uniform he still saved her life.

Nathalie laughed at her pondering about her father. She knew she was foolish thinking that he could be better at least for her. Every time he looks for a way to get some use out of her. Just to think of it, he saved her from his own hired man and then hired Her to do his job. Then at the factory he knew Nathalie memorised every room in there and which way to exit she would use. Why in the hell he shown up alone? He could have taken Silver and MacTavish with the help of his men but he came there alone. Why? To tear them apart. He got John to hate Nathalie by showing who she was attached to from the beginning of her life and that way he wouldn't get in a way of manipulating her. And well that way Nathalie wouldn't get in a way so Makarov can easily destroy the one who was responsible for Zakhaev's death.

"You sick bastard." She said searching through her bag to see if she packed everything she needed.

"Are you talking about me?" Nathalie heard and jumped immediately grabbing her revolver. She turned to see Simons leaning onto her door from the inside.

"How did you get in here?" She asked putting away her magnum.

"I opened the door, took a couple steps in, closed the door, and saw that you were so uninterested in my presence that you could scare yourself without me even helping." Said Jason catching his breath and trying to not burst laughing seeing her expression. "You look adorable when you are mad."

"I'm going to hang you by the balls if you say that again." She said and took off her bag from the bed and put it underneath it.

"Look at that. You're not afraid of touching my balls; we must take our relationship to the next level." He walked up to her put his arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her. Just when their lips were about to meet Nathalie leaned back, lifted her arm, and slapped Jason with all her might. "Don't even think about it. We're only friends." She pushed him away and shook her hand because it was pulsating and red. "Sometimes I wonder how I can even stand you as a friend."

Jason shook his head and touched his cheek that was also burning red and pulsating. "Well since you are so cold hearted you could cut it out of your chest and let me freeze my face. If this leaves a bruising it will be hella awkward." He said and took her other hand and pressed its back to his cheek. Nathalie's hands were cold as usual and it felt really good for Jason.

"You pull cat's whiskers and expect it not to scratch you? Madman. You knew what was coming. It's not the first time this happens." Laughed Nathalie and gently patted his cheek with the back of her hand.

"But we weren't friends back then." Whined Simons. "Things changed."

"It took what? Three years to go from enemy to friend. It'll take you three more to go from friend to lover."

Jason sighed and looked at her with his sad puppy eyes. Nathalie shook her head with a smile on her face. It was going to be a long month in a different country.


	2. Chapter 1

"Heywood, Devon, with me, front entrance. Smith, Landford, Simons, back entrance. On three. One... two... three... GO!" Gave out orders Nathalie. It was their training month and the squad was running through course made looking like one of those abandoned villages. She was confident about their performance as the first house was cleared in less than 30 seconds. "Move up to the next house. One entrance, rush in two at a time. Cover each other's backs." She was fully concentrated and fitting in her leader's role. Everything was executed precisely just the way Nathalie wanted but it was just the training against the targets. In reality they had to fight people with their own brains who can shoot back at them. People who do not hesitate to shoot back at them.

"Alright. Well done." Said Nathalie when they were finished. "Run it again without me. After that we'll call it a day. Reset the targets!" She walked away towards the spectators. Most of them knew English no matter how broken it was but she just decided to keep her distance throughout the whole stay. The whole situation was just uncomfortable. Everyone talked their native language which sounded like gibberish and the squad had to share one room which made her feel like she was a Private in Russian barracks once again.

"Hey, Lieutenant, aren't we supposed to train like mad and prepare for an encounter with Makarov?" Asked Devon after they completed their run through the course and walked up to her.

"We should but there's nothing we can do now. You already learned all locations of the targets and our enemies will be moving and shooting at us so there is no point in going over and over again." Explained Nathalie and started taking off the gear and weapons they used at the training. They had to give it back to the armoury so she nodded towards the exit and her soldiers followed.

"So no training for the rest of the day? Man, life's good." Said Simons and stretched his arms up above his head.

"Everyone is dismissed and free from training for the rest of the day except for you, Jason." Nathalie smiled mischievously. "Remember saying my butt looks great?"

"Uh-huh." Nodded Jason. "What does it have to do with my training?"

"After that I said that your butt is nowhere close and that we'll talk when it looks better. Now if you want to talk trash like you always do you'll have to work out more."

"When did this all happen?" Asked Landford walking after Silver and Simons who were walking one next to each other at the front of the group.

"That was like when we were back in Hereford. I had the same rank as him and he thought he could treat me like shit."

"I still can and that is the most retarded thing you thought of." Said Simons making faces at her. Nathalie smiled at him and just elbowed him to the ribs. She was lucky to be on his left and hit closer to his heart. It was a truly painful hit as he clutched his side and stopped in his tracks to take a couple of breaths.

"Shit. I'm sorry okay. Don't be so butt hurt over this. You know I love your butt, and thoughts, and decisions, and training." Groaned out Jason. "You are the greatest."

"Meet me by the barracks in ten." Said Nathalie and waved to him walking away with the rest of the team. Simons could hear Smith start laughing open mouthed and high five Nathalie.

"Women..." He said to himself and picked up his pace knowing that he will get his ass kicked if he doesn't show up where she told him to. He went to armoury and gave the equipment back. When he reached barracks she was waiting for him to show up.

"I see you took some time. C'mon, let's go." Nathalie said jogging past him.

"Where are we going?" Asked Jason catching up with her.

"Nowhere. We are going to run around this base until your legs fall off." She giggled and picked up speed to make it more difficult for him.

After quite few hours of fast running and casual jogging Jason was completely exhausted and could barely move on his feet whereas Nathalie just needed a couple of minutes to catch her breath. Years and years of morning runs have turned her into a marathon runner. When they reached their room in the barracks Jason dropped down onto first bed that he saw which was Nathalie's.

"Get your lazy arse off of my bed." She said and put her foot on his butt.

"Oh, yes, punish me, mama." Said Simons crawling further onto her bed.

"That's disgusting." Said Smith who was sitting on her own bed in the room.

"It really is." Agreed with Jennifer Nathalie and pulled away her foot. She walked away from him and just sat down on the floor. "I just hope you move out before the sleeping hours."

"Dream on, babe. It's my bed now." Laughed Jason and flipped over so he was facing the ceiling.

Nathalie shook her head and started stretching. "I'm not even sure why I am so nice to you. But then again I also hope your butt gets cramps."

* * *

"That's a very feminine necklace you are wearing there, Captain." Laughed Ghost upon seeing a silver heart hanging on MacTavish's neck when they were dressing up in the shower room.

"Laugh all you want, Ghost, it's important to me." He said looking at it right next to his dog tags. "I gave the same one to Nathalie."

"You mean the same Nathalie that greeted me when I was new to Hereford?" Asked Ghost pulling his balaclava over his head.

"Same one. Thought it was bloody right time to start wearing it with hope she still has it and did not curse me to burn in hell. I have no idea how I managed to fuck up so bad and break my phone." Said John and continued putting on his clothes. When he was fully clothed MacTavish turned to Ghost. "Think she will forgive me for forgetting her birthday and just basically leaving her for over a year now?"

"Can you ask an easier question, sir? I think she is a great person but I have no idea how she would solve such personal matters." Said Ghost picking up his things from the ground. "If I was in her place I would have burned down half Britain in rage. But that's just me. She might just marry a person of a royal blood and start ruling the other half she didn't burn down." He began laughing at John who was Scottish and couldn't care less about the British obsession with their monarchs.

"You're not helping, Ghost. Shepherd didn't help either. I asked him for three days off and he denied my request." Kept complaining MacTavish. "Just going back to see her even if she hates me would be enough."

"She will forgive you. Maybe not anytime soon but with time and effort you'll be together once again." Said Ghost and they left the showers walking back to the barracks.

"You know I can't use time or effort when that monster is roaming this earth. Until we take out Makarov I can only dream of being with her." Said MacTavish. It was heart-breaking to think about her so far away. It's been a year without seeing her face, all that he had was pictures that she took over the time they have been together. Every evening before he went to sleep he looked through them reminiscing about the good times that he believed he couldn't bring back. Even then he kept saying 'I love you' like a prayer for each photograph he viewed. He hated to admit but he actually prayed for God to keep Nathalie safe through her journeys. John was raised as a Catholic but never actually believed in God and it was the first time he asked him for anything.

It was still an early morning and they had a long day of training ahead. John couldn't get his love off his mind constantly worrying about her safety, her health, and her feelings. It was difficult to look straight when his mind was occupied with a fading image of her. He knew he had to at least try and concentrate, work hard to make sure that the next encounter with Makarov is the last for him.

* * *

Nathalie managed to kick out Jason out of her bed before the sleep and got a chance to rest in her place but for an unknown reason she felt uneasy she couldn't sleep. Even snoozing she kept waking up every 30 minutes, an hour at most. Feeling restless she decided to go outside and have a smoke which always helped her calm down at least for a little bit. She sat up on her bed and let her legs hang off the edge of the mattress while she was looking for a pack of cigarettes. When she found them Nathalie jumped in her boots and put her blanket over her shoulders.

"Where are you going?" She heard Simons asking.

"Fuck off, you're not my mama." Silver said irritated and he decided to leave her be.

Nathalie walked outside and sat down by the wall of the barracks on cold ground. Chilly spring breeze carried away the smoke from her lips as she lit up one of her cigarettes. Goosebumps settled all over her skin and she pulled the blanket over to cover more than just her shoulders. Watching still burning ashes fall to the ground as she flicked her cigarette Silver couldn't stop thinking of John. She tried her best to forget him but it was far too hard even when he broke her heart.

As she continued thinking of him Nathalie hummed a melody of a song that she felt like explained what she felt. Soon she began singing it out loud. "Esli v drug tebya nestanet to moya liubov rastaet. Esli v drug tebya nebudet, kto togda menya poliubit?" (If suddenly you are gone, my love will melt. If you're not there anymore, who will love me then?) Silver couldn't hold her tears back and let them run down her face freely. "Who's going to love me now, John?" She whispered and pulled her legs closer to her chest curling up into a ball under the blanket. "What am I going to do without you?"

* * *

By the end of March squad was already back in Colchester where they prepared to go after Makarov. They were supposed to take over the warehouse where Makarov was keeping illegal weapons before moving it to the ordered. Their job was to secure the weapons before they move them and kill anyone in their way. There was another squad assigned to help them and Nathalie was the leader of the platoon with her call sign Kilo Two-One. She was feeling better knowing her team will have some back up from the other team if things go nasty though getting Makarov angry was very frightening. She better than anyone else knew what he was capable of because, well, he trained her, brought her up, and she was capable of the same things. Despite it all Karma wasn't really back; Makarov was ready to sacrifice everything, even his own daughter for his goal, whereas Nathalie wouldn't do anything that brought harm to her team.

"This is Kilo Two-One, we are ready to attack." Said Nathalie throwing a butt of a cigarette that she just smoked on the ground. She stepped on it and checked her rifle to make sure it was prepared.

"Affirmative. Proceed to attack." She heard an answer from the base and sighed. Nathalie quickly crouched to check if Blue's gear was in place. He had some of light armour on to save him from bullet wounds which was worst case scenario. Over those years he learned a lot and avoiding gunfire was one of them.

"Alright, remember the plan?" Nathalie asked when she stood up and looked at the soldiers under her command.

"Those with silenced weapons take out patrols on your mark. When we are close enough take out all the guards but one. We force him to tell those on the inside open the door to the warehouse." Explained Simons standing up from crouching position and nodded to others to do the same.

"And if we are compromised?" Asked Silver gently petting Blue.

"We just blow shit up." Said Jason grinning.

"That's not the official plan, but... it'll do." She said and waved her hand indicating to follow her. She began walking through the alleys leading up to where the warehouse was. It was a very distant area of main cities of Georgia. It was a new place that Makarov never used before and they had no advantage. They slowly walked through the alley and Nathalie stopped everyone before she peaked around the corner. Two patrol guards were walking in their direction. It was dark time of the day and they could hardly see her which she used as an advantage. She pointed two fingers of her right hand and waved them towards the enemies. Blue jumped up on his feet and went sprinting towards them. Without hesitation he jumped up and ripped one's throat while Nathalie took out the other one. They didn't even get a chance to realize what was happening before they were sent to the other side.

"Alley is clear. Devon, Smith, take point." Nathalie walked out and Blue quickly took position beside her. Jennifer and Liam walked past her and carefully walked forward through the alley checking corners and shadows. Silver quickly checked if the enemies were really dead and ordered. "Hide the bodies. We don't need any traces of our presence."

When a couple of soldiers started taking care of the bodies they moved forward. They caught up with Smith and Devon at the main entrance to the warehouse area. Nathalie noticed that there were more guards than they expected to see but job was a job and she told them to spread out in groups of two to cover as much of area as possible. They had to do this smoothly and take out as many as possible for their plan to work. They took out even more patrols on their way to the position since sneaking past them wasn't an option, if they get compromised those bastards would come and fire from the back. When the soldiers cleaning after them were in positions she ordered to attack and they started cutting through the enemies around the warehouse. With another squad working together they cleared them out fairly quick and as the last few were left standing Nathalie said "Blue, disarm." While her pit bull was hanging onto the enemy's arm she took out the rest of them.

Simons pulled out his pistol and aimed at the last one who was squirming trying to shake Blue off of him. Silver took Blue by the collar and pulled him away with blood dripping out of his mouth.

"Lift him up." Said Nathalie and Simons pulled their hostage up on his feet. He held him up with pistol aimed at his temple while Nathalie told him what to do. "Otkroy dveri seichas." (Open the door right now.)

"Nemogu. Oni zakrity s nutri." (I can't. They are closed from the inside.)

"Togda skazhi im chto prishli novye soldati choby perevesti oruzhie." (Then tell them new soldiers are here to move the weapons.)

"No my dolzhni..." (But we have to...)

"Delay kak ya govoriu ili ja skormliu tebia moei sobakai." Nathalie threatened and Blue growled pulling towards the enemy. (Do as I say or I will feed you to my dog.)

Their hostage nodded and walked closer to the door to the warehouse. He banged on the door and tried to talk to others inside. It took him a while but they unlocked the door. Nathalie nodded to Jason and he dragged the enemy away from the rest of the group to deal with him while everyone was behind Silver waiting for the door to open. As they slowly cracked it open to look through Nathalie kicked it and let Blue run in to attack.

"Move, move." She shouted taking out the guards closest to the door walking inside. The resistance was bigger than they expected but the weapon load was massive also more than they expected. It was enough to arm a bloody army and that's exactly what Makarov was aiming for having a heavily armed soldiers. Not just his regular army, he needed some back up from other countries in case it didn't go according to his plans. Who knew how many bandits and terrorists he managed to buy in various countries over Europe? Nathalie questioned herself trying to come up with anything her father might have planned while she was walking through the warehouse. Others were opening the boxes checking what was being held there and looking for any clues where it was going. Simons called in another two squads from the base to secure the weapons and helped other people clean up the bodies. It was supposed to take a while for the other teams and helicopters to arrive and take all of the weaponry so they prepared for any counterattack barricading the warehouse from inside and readying their weapons.

When Nathalie cleaned of blood off Blue's face she left him guarding the door and went off to read through all the papers found in there. It was all written in Russian so she was the only one who could read it. Silver sat down on one of the boxes and put her rifle next to her also picking up the papers. There were long lists of what was packed in each box but nothing where it was headed. She spent 20 minutes looking through the information thoroughly searching for any name or location that could help them.

"Hey, boss. That's some load of weapons. Do you think we're in deep shit for pissing off Makarov?" Walked up to her and asked Devon.

"We sure are. That man has this much shit to sell to others imagine what he has for his own soldiers." She explained not even looking up from the pages though Silver still realized she didn't help to ease the tension that was around the soldiers. "But he isn't here so we will have time to prepare for such encounter."

"He is still doing his terrorist attacks but I heard he has some games in politics too. Do you know anything? I'm pretty sure Colonel told you something." Entered the chat Smith.

"He did. Not really much to tell you though. He is truly doing some political crap. Turned the ultranationalist party into political party and if he finds a person to push in for presidential election next year we are pretty much fucked." Said Nathalie but she looked up from the information this time and stared at every soldier there. "I got it. This package was meant to be transferred to Somalia. Not sure who was buying this but it's something."

"I'll tell the base about it." Nodded Devon and walked away.

Nathalie nodded and continued her search knowing that a long night waited for them.


	3. Chapter 2

They spent quite a lot of time in the warehouse and on their trip back. It was already a morning when they were back at the base in Colchester. She was absolutely exhausted and the only thing she wanted was sleep, sleep, and more sleep. But she had things to do like returning weapons to armoury and writing a report on the mission, taking care of Blue, and the list just goes on. Nathalie didn't feel like doing anything like that so she sent Simons to Colonel's office and only went to armoury. She left her and Blue's armour and weapons and went straight to the barracks avoiding anyone trying to approach her. Nathalie entered her room, kicked off her boots, and just dropped down on the bed. She gently waved her hand and Blue jumped on bed to lie down next to her. Feeling the warmth of her puppy Nathalie was slowly dozing off when she heard the door open. She lifted her head and opened her eyes to see Simons.

"Fuck off, you shit." She mumbled and put her head back down.

"Colonel asked me to bring you your mail. No need to thank me, bitch." He said and threw two envelopes at her before he closed the door. Jason walked to his own room with all the paperwork she made him do and another envelope. He examined it closely before opening. There were a couple of pictures and a long letter. He flipped through them and whispered to himself. "MacTavish is not getting his second chance. Only over my dead body."

* * *

The following day Nathalie was invited to Colonel's office to talk about everything they found out in Georgia. It wasn't much but it looked like it was enough to send them out into the battlefield again. They were meant to leave the same day and Nathalie spent a long time discussing the situation. They were going

to a completely unknown place to look around and see if they can find any clues about Makarov and the person or people that he was dealing to. It was risky but that was an order from above and even Colonel couldn't disagree with it. If task force wasn't doing anything it didn't mean that they had to stay put too. No matter how much Nathalie tried to talk her superior out of it he sent her out to prepare for the mission.

Silver walked back to the barracks where she hoped to find the rest of the squad. Unfortunately the barracks were empty. Since there was still enough time before their mission Nathalie decided to read the letters she received. One was from Tyler and the other one was from Nikolai. She had a few moments of peace while reading but Blue started barking at the door.

"What's going on?" Nathalie asked and walked closer to Blue who was getting more restless. She opened the door for her dog that basically jumped out of the room and went running down the corridor sniffing around. Nathalie leaned out over the doorstep and looked at her pit bull confused. Blue was still nervous looking around for something unknown. "Come back." Said Nathalie and Blue let out a whine and walked back to the room with her. She gently petted him hoping he would calm down and they could prepare for the mission. "I know something feels wrong. I keep feeling like this from the very first day I found out we'll be fighting Makarov."

Pit bull stood up on his hind legs and leaned on her for support with his front legs. He whined wagging his tail that was showing he wanted kisses. Nathalie giggled and leaned down to let him lick her face. "I know, I know, I'm safe with you." She gently scratched his ears and when he felt that Nathalie was calmer than before he sat down still wagging his tail waiting for her to put on his battle armour that she bought herself and not the one the army supplied. He wasn't a puppy anymore though even then he was the best companion Nathalie could have ever asked for.

Once he was ready for battle Nathalie changed into her own battle clothes. As usually she had another pair of yoga pants under her cargo pants and another tank top under the jacket and tshirt she had to wear. When she was ready the two of them walked outside to gather everyone for the mission. It took her a while to walk around the base and find them all but when she did the squad got ready under 10 minutes. While they were waiting to get an approval for leaving Colonel Watson walked up to them and asked Silver to take a short walk with him.

"Listen, I understand how you feel about this." Said Watson walking away from the group with Nathalie. "I know this is complete bullshit to send you out there with basically nothing and I am not surprised that even task force is not going for it. It is like looking for a black cat in a dark room but this order came from above and I can't just decline it."

"Sir, no need to justify yourself. I understand this situation and the fact that we are being sent straight to the enemy's hands." Said Nathalie holding her rifle down with one hand. "In case anything happens you'll have to find a way to justify me and my actions because I'll do everything to save my team. If I was on my own it would be completely different."

"I'll see what I can do to keep your name clean but whatever you do know that you are not a superhero and you can't save everyone."

"I know. I just wish that they didn't need saving." Sighed Nathalie picking up her rifle up to her chest with both of her hands and looked at the team standing in the distance. "Today is not going to end well. I just know it."

Colonel nodded and looked at her concerned face. He had a feeling something was going to happen too and probably everyone did. Watson nodded and let her go back to her team. It was their time to leave for the mission and face the danger they were sent to. Nathalie walked back to her squad and they boarded the chopper that was supposed to take them to the location of their mission that she called "Shithole". The flight was long and a little tiring but they had enough energy to fight enemies and kick their ass. "Good luck." Said one of the pilots when they were on the ground leaving the bird.

"Thanks." Mumbled Nathalie jumping outside. "We're going to need it."

They all gathered up into a group and when chopped dust off Nathalie led them in the direction of a town they had to search through. It was hot and humid with sun still high up. Road to the town was all muddy and everywhere around was thick forest that looked more like a jungle. While moving up Nathalie reminded everyone about the civilians in the town and the whole execution of their mission. It wasn't much of a mission to search through the vacant buildings and every accessible house without hurting or annoying the locals. When they reached the town Blue let out a silent whine which sent shivers down Silver's spine.

"What is going on?" Asked Smith walking up to a first shack that was by the road. She looked in through a hole where supposed to be a window and when she didn't see a single person Jennifer opened the door and walked in. "It's empty."

"That's just the first building if you can call that a building." Said Simons.

"Move up. Split up into groups of two and look through every unattended building." Ordered Nathalie and went to the next house with Blue. It was empty just like the one before. They kept going through the whole town to find no one around. No people, no enemies, no weapons, and no danger. It was completely deserted with no sign of even wild animals.

"Well that was anti-climactic." Said Simons lowering his rifle. "Why did we even waste time coming here? What a shithole."

Nathalie stared at him for a minute there trying to resist the urge to punch him. She calmed down and sighed. "Because that is our job. You should be happy we didn't encounter Makarov." Nathalie lowered her rifle and let others do just that.

"Hey girl, you keep talking how scary he is. I am not going to be scared of motherfucker until I meet him in person and he proves he's mad." Kept going Simons.

"You are getting on my nerves today, Sergeant." Said Nathalie once again staring at him angrily.

"Dude, did you even count the times he executed his insane plans? How many people did he traffic? How many places he blew up?" Said Devon backing up Nathalie.

"Oh, boo hoo, he won't be able to even come up with anything when I put a bullet through his head." Waved his hands around Jason making fun of Devon so Nathalie instantly slapped him. "If you think peoples lives are worth nothing and you can make fun of them there's no place for assholes like you in my squad." Silver pushed him back away from the rest of the team. She moved her hand pointing towards one of the better buildings that they could use as shelter while waiting for their heli and nodded for the team to go there.

"I was just kidding. You think I would really take all those people as nothing. I know they had their own lives and dreams but we can't do anything about them now but take out the man who did this to them." Tried to make up to her Simons. He seemed off that day just as the whole situation that they were in.

"I might have called you a friend a couple of times but this is a mission and we deal with it like soldiers. When you decide to be more serious come inside and for now you can chill here." Said Nathalie and turned her back to him. As if adding to what she said Blue growled at him but quickly followed Nathalie who was walking away from Jason.

"Command, this is Kilo Two-One. No sign of Makarov or people he supplied. There is no sign of anyone alive around here." She communicated through her earpiece.

"Repeat your last, Kilo Two-One." She heard Colonel's voice full of surprise.

"The village is deserted. It looks like no people been here for at least a week or two." Explained Nathalie entering the house where the rest of the team was resting from African heat. She held the door for her dog and when he was inside she closed the door not even bothering to wait for Simons.

After a short pause their superior's voice sounded out again. "There is another village 5 kilometres away to southwest. You can check it out or get a ride back, your call."

"Is it worth looking?" Asked Nathalie.

"It's the only area with habitants, nearest town is more than in 30 km radius. If there's nothing there we are losing his tracks."

"We came all the way here might as well just do it." Said Nathalie and sighed not getting a chance to relax.

"Roger. Good luck with that. Out."

Nathalie sat down by the wall and got passed a bottle of water. She took a few gulps and poured a little into her palm to let Blue drink it. He kept licking her hand even when there was no more water left. Silver gave the bottle to one of the teammates and gently petted her pit bull. "We leave in five minutes. Rest while you can." She said trying to relax and rest before they had to move. While waiting others had a small chat.

"We might be lucky not to encounter Makarov today. It would be great to avoid fighting." Said Heywood.

"Yea, for us maybe, but can you imagine what that bastard will do to the rest of the world?" Disagreed with him Devon.

"Even if we get into a battle today, I don't think we will be able to do much good if that man shows up." Said Smith and shivered. "I mean just listen to our leader. Silver have met him in the past and how did that end up?"

"Tragic." Said Silver rolling up sleeves that revealed a mass of scars that her squad seen more than enough times in the past. "But that's enough of bad thoughts. We'll make it through. We're a strong team."

Others looked one at another and nodded. They all stood up and picked up their rifles. Without hesitation they followed Nathalie outside into the heat. She walked to where she left Simons but he wasn't there. "Where in the hell this asshole went?" Silver whispered to herself and commanded Blue to search for him. Pit bull followed the trail of scent and led the team to the outskirts of the town.

"We are going southwest, ma'am." Said Devon checking his compass. "Did he go there on his own?"

"Maybe. Or he was dragged there by the enemies." Said Nathalie and kept walking after her dog who was sniffing around the road. 5 kilometres wasn't a short distance especially when walking in heat. It would be way faster to run but they needed energy to fight enemies in case they met any. "Listen, change of plan, we do not split into groups. Since that idiot is gone we have to stick together or we'll end up like him. We are going to search every house all together." Explained Nathalie while walking further on. Her mouth felt dry and she had small drops of sweat on her forehead.

Others agreed with her and kept going despite wanting to drop down and rest forgetting every surrounding. It took them a while to reach the other village but Nathalie was determined to keep her team safe including the missing Simons. They kept going through every house with no luck until they reached two storeys building in the centre of the town. When they stormed in through the front and back door in the centre of the ground floor was Jason on his knees and hands tied behind his back. Right next to him was one of Makarov's men holding his pistol up to Simons' temple.

"Would you look at that? Nathalie finally decided to show up and save her friend. Sadly that's not going to happen." He said and pulled the slide of his pistol back.

Nathalie let down her rifle to make sure her hands were free. "Don't put your weapons down and don't let your guard down." She said and let her hands hang down completely relaxed. "We didn't really come here for him. Our mission was to find Makarov or any clues that would help us destroy his little black market." She sighed and lifted her left hand up to rub the back of her neck. "This shit is not worth the trouble."

"So you wouldn't care if I shot him right now?" Asked the enemy with a psychotic smile on his face.

"Nu huh." Hummed Nathalie still completely calm and looked at Jason who was in clear panic.

"Alright, honey, whatever you want." Nodded the enemy and as he glanced towards Simons Nathalie moved her right hand and Blue leapt forward attacking the enemy. He bit his arm and held onto it with his strong teeth. Out of shock enemy pulled the trigger but missed Jason since he was out of balance with a dog pulling him around and trying to rip pieces of his flesh off his bones.

"Blue, back." She said and Blue let go of his arm. Nathalie put her own pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. When his lifeless body hit the ground a bunch of bullets started flying in through windows. "Get to cover, now." She shouted and turned to Jason. Nathalie took him by the arm and pulled up on his feet leading him to cover.

"We are dead." Whispered Simons leaning onto the wall in front of Nathalie. "There's dozens of them."

"May be a thousand but we are not giving in without a fight." Said Nathalie and cut the ties loose.

"What do we do now, boss?" Asked Landford sitting behind cover.

"We don't start crying, wait for their first attack to stop, and fight back." She said and sighed knowing that she doesn't believe in whatever she said. It was useless to fight Makarov's army.

"It looked like you really were ready to let him shoot me." Whispered Jason to Nathalie.

"I wouldn't have cried if Blue was unable to draw his fire away from your head." Said Nathalie and crouched by the wall they were hiding from enemy fire. She patted Blue and shown a signal to follow her closely. As she moved towards the staircase that was across the floor enemies stopped shooting. "Return fire. You too." She leaned forward to get the pistol out of the dead man's hand and threw it towards Simons. "Stay with Smith." She said to Blue and ran up the stairs where she expected to see hiding enemies but since there were none she looked for a way to get to the roof.

Silver broke one window with the back of her rifle and leaned out through it. She looked around aiming down the sights to take out any enemies that are close to the house. Once there was just a bunch of dead bodies Nathalie attached her rifle to her back and pulled herself outside holding onto window frame. She struggled a little bit when she had to take out enemies with a pistol and hold her weight with one arm but she managed to reach the roof that wasn't very stable. "Okay. I'll provide cover from the roof; you have to move back through the buildings we already checked. Go!" Silver said and crouched with her primary weapon in her arms. She provided cover to others while they moved to another house. "Devon, call in the base and tell them about our situation."

"Roger." Said Sergeant Devon and looked around to see if everyone made it to the house uninjured. "This is Kilo Two-Three. We were ambushed by Makarov's men."

"No response. Fuckers must be jamming our signal." Said Heywood shooting through the window.

Nathalie walked on to the other side of roof where all of the enemies were. There were masses of them but as she stood there at the edge of the roof that was barely holding all together she saw all of their bullets fly past her. "Don't let them get in a close range with you. They aren't trying to take us down, they want to take us alive."

"We'll try." Shouted Simons knowing he was helpless with only a pistol stripped of the rest of his equipment.

"Shit." Mumbled to herself Nathalie when she saw an RPG flying straight for the house she was on top of. Silver tried to go back to the other side of the roof to where she came from but the earth beneath her feet crumbled. She fell down with the roof but landed on her feet. Her father's men were already inside and she had to fight them off. There were 5 of them and at first she didn't have any trouble taking them out until one of them came from behind and put a bag over her head. Nathalie still managed to fight them by the sounds of their movements but it was uneven fight and before she knew it everything went dark.


	4. Chapter 3

"Wake up." Was the first thing she heard after an annoying amount of slaps hit her face. She sighed knowing that the worst is still in the future. Silver opened her eyes and immediately her face lit up with a cocky smile. "Holy shit, you're ugly." She said to the enemy that was standing in front of the chair that she was seated on. Another one of them that was standing further away started dying laughing.

"What's so funny to you? Shut up." The one in front of her got madder that his mate laughed at him than what Nathalie said.

"Well, hello to you too, miss Silver." Said the cracking up one as he tried to catch his breath. Makarov mentioned that she was going to be bad mouthed but he did not expect her to act like that right away. "We are so glad you could finally join us. You are the last guest to wake up. Makarov couldn't wait for you to meet him."

"Oh, wow. Makarov himself is waiting for me? No wonder I received such a warm welcome, my cheeks are still burning hot." It looked like Nathalie was having fun upon meeting an equal competitor.

"Do you see how much we care about you? Making sure you don't get cold in here. We are very thoughtful."

"Yes, very thoughtful. When I don't have any warmer clothes on me can freeze to death. My greatest gratitude to you." She said and rubbed her arms that had goose bumps all over them.

They would have continued their show off if it wasn't for a banging on the door. Nathalie heard a familiar voice saying to bring her out. The two of enemies looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed Silver by her arms and pulled her up just to drag her out like trash. They took her down the hallway and down the stairs into the basement where the real jail was built in and behind the bars of those awful cells were her teammates. As her guards pushed her forward she noticed that she was pretty much untouched compared to the beating others received.

Without even saying anything Makarov walked up to her and handed a folder with files. Nathalie flipped through the pages with pictures, names, locations, and dates of their death. Those dates were actually days they were meant to die and Silver understood what he wanted from her right away.

"Your friends promised a warm welcome and I didn't even hear a greeting from you." She said looking at the first person she had to deal with.

"I don't think you are in position to joke around." Said Makarov looking her right in the eyes. "Lives of six other people are in your hands. Just fuck up and I will make sure to get rid of them in most horrible ways, those that you used in the past."

"Haven't changed, have you?" She lifted her eyes from the folder to him and smiled mockingly. "How it didn't cross your mind I would be willing to work for you and you didn't have to resort to violence? But even without knowing what I will say you hurt them. What an awful person you are, Makarov."

He looked at her irritated though he couldn't deny that he was expecting such behaviour from her. Makarov grabbed her by the throat and whispered "Ne zli menia, Natasha. Delay kak ya tebe govoriu I mozhet byt oni vyzhivet." (Don't make me angry, Natasha. Do as I say and maybe they will live.) He glanced at her friends that he held captive.

Nathalie threw the folder on the ground and groaned. Her father was at it again, obsessed over power and control that he reached in many ways: money, violence, and psychological manipulation. He was a master of all those things and Nathalie couldn't stand being forced into his games. "Fuck you!" She shouted. "The more you threaten me the less you get. I don't even care about other lives. If you want to torture or kill someone start with him." Nathalie pointed at Simons and heard Makarov laugh. His grip around her neck loosened and he just took a step back.

"Look at yourself, telling me that you've changed, that people matter to you, that you stopped killing the innocent. Look how easily you give him away to die."

Nathalie sighed. It was truth and it cut her deep. No matter what kind of grudges she had against him or how much of an asshole he was, Simons was still her teammate, her right hand and Nathalie just offered Makarov to torture and kill him. She looked at him feeling a lump at her throat rising and to hide the bad feeling she leaned down and picked up the folder with her targets. She gulped and felt how less assured her voice sounded as she asked "When do I start?"

"Now." Said Makarov and lead her out of the basement. Nathalie followed him wherever he was taking her feeling bad about the words she said. Makarov noticed her sour expression and began talking. "I know you have a soft heart. That's why you could never be like me no matter how much I would try to make you so." He sighed and stopped to look at his daughter. "You know I can't promise anything to you. Please be good and we'll settle this as peaceful as possible."

"If I do everything that is in here will you let them go?" She asked holding the folder in front of her.

"I will but there's work for over two months. If they act up I will be forced to teach them a lesson."

Nathalie furrowed her brows and nodded. She didn't like it but she had to do it. Even if by doing it she would be claimed as a terrorist and maybe would never be able to live in UK, it meant that her soldiers got their freedom and it's all that mattered. It wasn't her place anyway, she was born in Russia and born as a terrorist's daughter. It was silly of her to think that she could be someone else. It was her job to be bad and destructive. But that's just what Nathalie thought trying to convince herself to do whatever Makarov was asking for.

Once she was fully geared up Makarov gave her away into his men who weren't as friendly and careful as him hands. After pushing her around for a while Nathalie couldn't hold back and punched the lights out to one of them. And of course they didn't take any of her shit and put her in her "place". When she had bruises all over her face and was coughing out blood they finally stopped beating her.

"Cunts." She whispered lifting herself off the ground. Before any of them could do anything to her for insulting another soldier walked in. It was the one with a good sense of humour that she saw when she first woke up. He walked towards Nathalie and when he saw blood on her lips and floor he shook his head. "Vy s uma soshli?" (Are you out of your mind?)

He pulled a napkin out of his pocket and gave it to Silver. She took it gratefully and wiped of her face and lips. Nathalie got a better look at this new saviour of hers. He was tall and had a well-built body but there were no traces of age on his face. He might have been even younger than her. Dark hair and brown eyes were plain simple and overall his looks weren't as impressive. Even at the moment like this an image of MacTavish crossed her mind, she couldn't let go of him that easily.

"Ona vsio ravno ego doch. Esli on uznaet chto vy s ney delaete on otrubit vashi yaica." (She is still his daughter. If he finds out what you are doing with her, he will cut off your balls.) He turned around to look at the men that were bullying Nathalie, knowing that if she does anything to them her friends will suffer and used every moment of her weakness to enjoy themselves. It was one of the rare moments that Karma was vulnerable and they could toy with her however they wanted.

"Esli on uznaet. Ya dumayu ona emu neskazhet." (If he finds out. I think she won't tell him.) Said one of them and got closer to Nathalie putting his arms around her. She panicked and hit him with her elbow pushing him away from her. Quickly she turned around and took out knife that she got with other gear for the mission. Her saviour managed to grab her by the wrist before she could jam the blade into her abuser's throat.

"We are leaving." He said and pulled Nathalie out of the situation she was in still holding her by the wrist. When they were outside the building he let her go. "Are you okay?" He asked and when she nodded he decided to introduce himself. "I am Roman."

"Nathalie." She mumbled feeling shivers down her spine. Silver understood that she wasn't safe from their abuse and of course their sexual advances. Though she could protect herself from them more or less Smith couldn't. She was a prisoner in there and had no power and no voice. If Makarov left his soldiers around Nathalie's teammates unattended who knows what they would do.

"We should get going. If you don't complete your task on time your friends will suffer." He said and put his arm on her shoulder. When she looked up to him she saw a reassuring smile on his face. Overall he seemed kind and didn't fit in with the whole terrorist vibe. Nathalie nodded and Roman led her to the vehicle that he had to take her to specific location with. They sat down at the front and Roman started the engine. He looked at Nathalie who was boiling on the inside but preferred to stay silent. "You don't seem like yourself anymore. Aren't you going to crack a few jokes?"

"You heard my father, I am in no position to joke around." She whispered and looked outside the window looking around the road that they drove into.

"Maybe not around him. I can handle a joke or two."

"I need to concentrate before my mission." She said and looked at Roman who was still smiling. He was mocking her. He had heard many stories about her and she was known for being sassy and sarcastic even when time isn't right. She sighed and gave in. "My life is a big fucking joke I don't think I need to make any more." 'Not like I can or want to bring another life into this shit.' She added in her head. The only good thing about not being able to have children is that you know that you won't have to see them suffer as much as you do.

"I know what you mean." He laughed at her response and sour expression. "No one asked to bring me into this world. Or maybe, do you think I wanted to be born in your terrorist clan? How many times have you used these?"

"More than enough." She said and relaxed knowing that a long day was waiting for her.

* * *

(Since I am a lazy shit and there's a lot Russian talking here I won't write it in Russian and translate it, it will all be in English so please imagine they talked in Russian)

"Remember what you have to do?" Asked Roman opening trunk of the car to reveal a bunch of silenced rifles for her to choose.

"Make it look like a suicide, convince his family into telling this story to the press, and avoid being seen by any of the guards. Kill them all if necessary." She said and took an mp5k.

"When you're done call me to pick you up." He said and gave her a cell phone. Silver took the phone and turned to walk away in the direction of the summer house of her target.

It was just as she thought: Makarov wanted her to get rid of his political enemies, those who didn't want to do business with him, and anyone who dared to oppose him. You couldn't deny that he sounds like any other dictator of the history no matter how hard you tried.

Nathalie walked through a bright and spacious woods towards the villa. It was a beautiful place and no doubt the man owning it was rich as hell. After walking for a while she reached the fence that had a sign saying there were dogs guarding the territory. Nathalie groaned climbing over the fence. She didn't like the thought of having to kill animals especially dogs. Though they were hostile and if she didn't take them out they would surely notice her before any other person would. She slowly snuck around looking for patrols and their guarding patterns. When she had an approximate plan of who and where is Silver began taking out handlers with their dogs. She dragged their bodies to a pile further away from the villa strategically best position where the guards from the house can't see and patrols without dogs wouldn't notice.

Once it was safe she closed up to the house and took out a guard by the basement door. Nathalie pushed his body downstairs and closed the door behind her. She walked around the basement looking for the hidden weapon stash. The only way to make it a realistic suicide is to use his own weapons and one of his pistols was just perfect. Silver carefully took Makarov pistol and just shivered at the thought of her father's last name. Before she lost her concentration she went up the stairs to the ground floor. Carefully Nathalie broke necks of two guards and dragged them down to the basement. She broke a sweat packing their lifeless bodies in the small secret weapon room house owner had. She closed them up and moved back up.

Sneaking around she saw them gathering to the dining room for lunch. When they were seated Nathalie took out her pistol and walked inside the dining room.

"Stay where you are." She said and pointed her pistol from one to another. Man was middle aged a little plump and balding. His wife sat to his right, right across was their daughter and next to her their son who both were teenagers. They started panicking but seeing a weapon pointed at them kept them seated. She walked up to their father and made him take his pistol. Nathalie put his hand up to his temple and pulled the trigger. Family screamed in shock when blood splattered around. "Shut up!" Shouted she to make them stay put and quiet.

"Listen here, you will go and tell guards to get rid of the bodies in the territory, not to go inside the house, and not to question anything." Nathalie pointed to the door and crying woman moved away from the table. "Go. Your kids are still under my gun." She waved her pistol around and woman rushed outside. Nathalie walked around the table and sat down in front of the kids who were sobbing and crying.

When their mother came back Nathalie seated her next to her children. "Story time. Do you know what happened here?" They were still in such a shock and couldn't talk so Silver continued. "During your lunch he pulled out his pistol and shot himself. When police comes that's what you will say. I have never been here. Understood?" Woman nodded and Nathalie stood up. "If anything goes wrong... Remember that I got here in the first place and your guards didn't see me. They won't see me the next time but also you won't see your kids."

Silver took the same path she used to get inside the house to go back outside. She snuck around and saw guards digging up a hole to bury all of the bodies. Nathalie sighed and walked out of their land gettin over the fence. When she reached the place where Roman dropped her off she called him to pick her up. He said that he will be there in couple of minutes and Karma fell down to her knees. There she was, the real Karma, one who killed everyone in her way, even those who were innocent, even women and children. Finally the monster came out of the darkness. Nathalie started crying and sobbing uncontrollably. Her heart was breaking and she couldn't breathe thinking of what she have done. There she was at the same place she was as a teenager, used against her will, falling back into the depths of depression and wishing she could just die. She was so proud that she managed to live for over two years without dragging her blade right next to her veins and it all shattered. And it was all because of the will of a single man.

* * *

"Hey, MacTavish." John heard someone say and he stopped in his tracks to look for the voice. He was just going back to barracks for a shower after a long day of training and didn't really need any company for that. He saw a familiar face walking up to him. It was one of the young soldiers who worked at the base that TF141 was located and was responsible for communication and international news. MacTavish managed to get him on his good side and always got the news first.

"Listen, Shepherd told me not to tell you but..." Youngster looked around to see if his superior wasn't anywhere to see. "As I told you earlier Brits found Makarov's weapon deal and went after it's buyers. As of what we found out he captured the team that was sent and this is where things get nasty."

"Don't tell me..." John felt his heart sink at the thought of something happening to Nathalie. Cold sweat broke through and he shook his head.

"Your girlfriend was leading them. We got news that one politician that opposes the ultranationalists killed himself. Police found it very suspicious but members of the family said the same, he pulled out a pistol at the table and just shot himself. And you know what? General is not going to do anything until shit goes down. He's stalling." Explained the whole situation young soldier.

"We have to do something about this." Said John trying to get it all straight in his head. Makarov was a monster and that's why he created task force to hunt him. Now he had all the cards in his hands, he had the ability to shake the world, and ability to keep MacTavish vulnerable having Nathalie as a hostage. "Thanks for telling me. I'll make sure Shepherd doesn't find out that you did."

"Alright, take care." He said and walked away from MacTavish before anyone could see them chatting for too long.

John walked back to the barracks where he was headed from the very beginning. He was breathing deep and uneven trying to calm himself and avoid punching the wall to ease his frustration. The thought of his love being with Makarov maybe even wounded or emotionally hurt took over his mind making him forget what he planned to do for the rest of the evening. When he heard British accent in the hallway he shouted "Ghost, come in here."

The door opened and a man with a mask walked inside John's room. "What's going on?" He asked as he closed the door behind.

"Makarov got Nathalie."


	5. Chapter 4

"Come on. Don't just give up now." Said Roman picking Nathalie of the ground amd carrying her to the car. He laid her down on the backseat. "You have to be strong for your team."

Since Nathalie didn't respond he got into the driver's seat and began driving. He couldn't bring her back as such mess because everyone would suffer. Nathalie, her team, and Roman himself for not taking care of her. "Listen, we are all in this together. Befriend your demons."

"This is shittiest advice ever." Said Nathalie lying down on the backseat. She finally regained control of herself and tried to set her mind to the goal. "You will become just like my father. Unless of course you really want to be the biggest asshole in the world."

Roman laughed at her response. That's what he expected from her. She had to fight the want to give up and he had to help her because that was his way to go against Makarov. He didn't want to die because if you oppose him that's what will happen. The same way it happened to the politician that Nathalie dealt with.

Nathalie sat up to see where they were driving. Place was unfamiliar to her and she knew that Makarov isn't stupid. Russia was huge and he never stayed at the same place twice. She leaned back and took of her vest with equipment trying to relax. "If I ever try to take down Makarov's empire, will you help me?" Nathalie asked Roman avoiding direct eye contact.

He looked at her through rear view mirror with slight shock in his expression. She was the only person that dared to openly go against Makarov. Not like just saying that his views are wrong but openly letting everyone know that she plans on destroying all that Makarov was working on after taking control of what Zakhaev managed to build. Roman cleared his throat thinking of what to answer. "I... uh..."

"Don't say anything. I knew that all of his men are weak and only are brave when he buys them power. None of them dare to work their way up." Said Nathalie and looked directly at him. She was thinking of options to get more of Makarov's men working for her. "What if I hire you? I'll pay you more than he does."

"He doesn't pay me." Answered Roman and looked away from her. "I am here because I was born to one of Zakhaev's men. I began my career here just like you. But I bet he pays you."

"He does. I have a nice sum in my bank account. But I still want to hire you. I won't manage to do it all on my own."

"Why are you doing this? It's not just to save your friends."

"My demons are telling me to." She said with a smirk on her face. "So what do you say? Want to be my soldier?"

"I'll think about it. If Makarov finds out about your offer I'm not going to have it fun."

Nathalie nodded at his words. Everything that she was planning and doing was really sketchy. She didn't expect him to have guts to do something different than what his whole life was. Nathalie on the other hand was a fighter her whole life and never thought of giving in to Makarov and his wishes. Maybe it was inevitable that she would always have to suffer because of that but that wasn't a reason to stop fighting.

When they arrived back to Makarov's hideout Roman told her to go back to the basement while he had to deal with something else. She walked down the hallways wondering where her father was and how she was supposed to deal with the whole teammate situation. Hell knows what could happen over the span of two months. Especially when his men are fucking assholes. It didn't take long for her to see that with her own eyes. Walking down the stairs Nathalie saw bunch of them messing with her friends. One of them was annoying Blue who was closed in a cage. Poor dog was growling, barking, and showing teeth, while his attacker was poking him with a stick. Then there was one who was in charge of who comes near the prisoners and one who was bringing in food. He was messing with Smith asking what she was willing to do for food, hoe many days of starvation it would take her to do something disgusting like having sex with him. He kept nagging her and threatening to rape if she doesn't do it voluntarily.

Since they hadn't noticed Nathalie coming down she used it as an opportunity to thin out Makarov's forces. She grabbed a crowbar that was laying with all the other junk they planned on using for torture and rushed towards the two assholes messing with Jennifer. Nathalie walked up to the closest one and grabbed his head quickly snapping his neck. His lifeless body fell to the ground so she grabbed the crowbar with both hands and swung it towards the other one who had the food.

"Lieutenant, no, don't do it." Screamed Jennifer but Nathalie didn't hear it. Her blood was boiling, she was bloodthirsty, and there was no stopping to it. She hit him on the head knocking him down to the ground and walked around his body to have a closer aim to his head. Nathalie continuously hit his head breaking his skull and splattering blood over the place. Third and last enemy that was messing with Blue came launching towards her and before she defended herself Nathalie lifted her eyes up and caught a glance of Simons who was shocked.

"Shit, Silver, stop. Don't do this. It's not going to end well for us. Princess, listen to me." He pleaded when he saw her expression. She wasn't the same leader who did everything to save her team and take care of their security. Madness was written all over her face when she was fighting with the enemy. After pushing one another around and packing a few punches she had him on the ground and keeping pressure on his throat. He was struggling but it was no stopping for her.

"Death to everyone who dares to go against Karma." She said choking him. Her teammates were watching in silence as it was the first time she acted so brutal especially when there was no need for it. They weren't in danger or hurt in any way and the only thing that brought Nathalie to reality was a slow clap coming from the entrance. She let go the man she was choking and lifted herself up from the ground to see her father with a grin on his face walking towards her.

He was wearing his usual style, with a formal well-tailored suit. "Now this is what I like to see, not on my own men, of course, but the passion for murder." Then he made a little pause to get closer to her. He took the crowbar out of her hands and put one arm around her waist. "For this your friends will have to spend a couple of days starving as a punishment for your naughtiness." Makarov led Nathalie to where he came from also where many of his soldiers gathered. He used crowbar to point at Roman and said, "You're not getting food for next two days too for not looking after her." He then proceeded to walk Nathalie up the stairs and further away.

When they were out of sight others started cleaning out the bodies that Nathalie left. Her teammates walked as close to the bars as possible and began talking between one another. "What happened to her?" Asked Jennifer and shivered at the sight of a man with his skull crushed in. "She has always been harsh in battle but this..."

"That's what she was talking about. You know, when she mentioned Makarov. He probably made her like that." Said Devon leaning onto the bars with his back. "I don't think she would have done something like this otherwise."

"You guys are stupid." Said Simons joining their conversation. "She has always been insane. Back in Hereford three years ago she almost kill me for entering her room."

"That's bullshit. You probably did something more to get her angry. Just like you always do, you fucker." Landford attacked Jason and grabbed him by the shirt through the bars. "Like you did right now. If you knew when to shut up we would have been home. But because you are a complete shit we are stuck in here."

One of the guards walked up to them and said "Get away from him." His words were directed towards Landford and when he realised guard was protecting Simons he pulled him closer by the collar and punched. When Jason fell to the ground with blood dripping out of his nose guard unlocked the door to Cameron's cell and opened it. Landford didn't even flinch and only looked at him mockingly. Guard immediately did what he liked so much - beaten him up.

"Shit." Whispered Jennifer and walked to the other end of her cell. She sat down by the wall and shook her head. "We're gonners."

"Assholes." Said Landford cleaning up his blood with sleeve of his uniform. It wasn't smart of him to annoy enemies and Simons too but he couldn't let them take away his pride. If he had to die there at least he wanted to be sure he fought back to the very end.

* * *

In the evening when Makarov was done with praising and telling Nathalie about his future plans for her she was closed in a room she was supposed to call her own. If she wanted to go anywhere a guard had to go with her and that's why she stayed in despite being very hungry and dirty. She rubbed visible dirt on her skin while sitting on the bed with her boots kicked off. Thinking of the events of the day Silver didn't feel any pride in what she did. She shivered at the thought of being unable to control herself. Though it didn't really do much good to her one thing she did was good enough.

Nathalie leaned over the edge of bed to grab a bottle of whiskey that she stole from her father. She caught a moment where no one was looking after her and broke into his office. Silver knew that her father always has a few bottles of good stuff wherever he goes and decided she had the right to get a little bit of it for herself. Nathalie opened the bottle and lifted it up to her lips. Alcohol and depression didn't mix well but she wanted to get through all the shit that she was in so she started sipping whiskey.

Once she was one third down she heard chatter behind the door and hurried to hide the bottle under the sheets almost choking on the drink. Nathalie quickly closed the bottle and showed it under the pillow covering her face with her arm. She was relieved when she saw Roman enter the room and not any other soldier. He looked at her a little confused as he closed the door.

"Makarov said you didn't have your diner." Roman walked up to the bed and when she moved her feet closer to herself he sat down. "He asked me to bring you this." He reached out the plate he was carrying. Nathalie took the plate with food and Roman added "Also, I think drinking with an empty stomach is not healthy."

Nathalie laughed and took the fork that was on the food. She pushed around the meatballs and potatoes not wanting to eat it. It's not because it tasted bad but because she didn't deserve it. She felt starving but human needs weren't the priority. "You should have it." She said and extended her arm for Roman to take the plate. "I mean because of me you will be starving so that's the least I can do."

"You want me to work for you, don't you?" He said and took the food she offered back to him.

"And I see you accept my offer." She said and saw him nod. Nathalie smiled at him and pulled out the whiskey bottle from underneath the pillow. She opened it and chugged right out of it. "Don't you think it's strange? Going from one Makarov to a different Makarov. Ironic." She said and offered him the bottle.

"That doesn't make sense, Silver." He said and took the bottle from her. Roman looked at the labels and shook his head handing the bottle back to her. "You would never be Makarov."

"I know, I know. By Russian rules that's true my last name would be Makarova, but in English I would be Makarov."

"How joyful... Can't wait to work for Makarov. If Makarov finds out I work for Makarov he will kill me. Or worse, he will make Makarov kill me..." Said Roman and grinned at Nathalie who didn't appreciate his joke. He rolled his eyes since he knew that that wasn't even a joke and he was making a plain mess.

"Your first task will be to find a way of getting Jennifer and Blue out of here. And making sure I'm the one who suffers for it, not my men."

Roman nodded stuffing food that was on the plate into his mouth. He was already hungry and couldn't resist eating when he knew that he couldn't eat for next few days. Taking it as a first payment they began discussing their plan on saving Nathalie's friends.

* * *

"You think we're going to find anything? They've been gone for five days." Asked Ghost following Captain's lead through the village in Somalia. MacTavish spent endless hours trying to convince Shepherd let them go and investigate the place. With all the effort he put into it he couldn't miss anything, not even the slightest bit.

"We'll find something. They didn't just disappear into the void." Said MacTavish following the footprints on the ground that were visible in the mud. The only way he knew that it was a right way and the right footprints because right next to them were dog paw prints. It must have been Nathalie and Blue. "Just search through the houses and report if you find something."

"Roger." Said Meat casually walking past Captain. He entered one of the houses and soon the rest of Task Force split up going into different houses. "What a smell. I have a dead body here." Said Meat through the earpiece and sighed identifying the body. "Seems like he was hostile."

"Keep searching." Said Captain and walked through the messed up house. There were clothes and household items scattered all around the floor. He looked up to see empty cabinets and an empty closet. Overall it looked like someone was trying to leave as fast as possible and didn't manage to gather all of their things.

"More dead bodies. They look like Makarov's men." Said Ghost walking through a different building.

"Captain you have to see this. I'm in the house with broken roof to south from your location." Said Archer and Captain hurried outside. He saw others also leaving the houses they looked through and walk towards Archer with curiosity of what he found. They walked in silence mostly because everyone knew that if it had something to do with Captain's girlfriend he was too serious about it. Jokes weren't taken well.

"What is it?" Asked MacTavish walking inside the house to see trails of blood and clothes stained with it. He crouched and picked up a jacket which looked damn familiar. The colours were of British uniform and his heart trembled at the sight of last name written on it. "Silver..." He mumbled it beneath his breath and clenched his fists still holding the jacket.

"It's covered in blood." Said Ghost walking closer to Captain. "Hopefully it's not her."

"I don't think he would have done anything to her. Though you can expect anything from a man like Makarov." John stood up holding the jacket in front of him. "We have to find them."


	6. Chapter 5

"Where is everyone?" Asked Devon looking around the basement through the bars. "They've been gone for half an hour."

"Do you really care?" Groaned Simons still irritated by the fact that Cameron punched him few days ago. "You should enjoy the fact that they are gone."

"Their company is more enjoyable than yours is." Said Heywood and walked closer to the bars that separated him from Simons.

"Did you all decide to go against me?" Jason asked and received a bunch of agreements. He sighed and shifted his weight going from sitting position to laying down on the cold ground. Simons didn't deny that he 'was asking for it' in fact he knew that he did it all on purpose. Nathalie did all she could to make sure they were all right and Jason couldn't let everyone think otherwise. Her mental breakdowns and anger issues indeed were scary even to him but to distract everyone from her mishaps he did everything to seem like the biggest douche.

When he heard footsteps outside the cells he moved onto his side to face the people that were walking in. Jason noticed Makarov's men with unusually large amount of arms. They would alwayd have a pistol or any other sidearm but that time the four soldiers had assault rifles and submachine guns. It looked like they were prepared for a serious battle. Simons looked at his teammates to see a shared confusion on their faces. It couldn't mean any good and most of them moved back further away from them. One of them walked around inspecting if everyone was in their place. Others were guarding the entrance looking worried as hell. No one from the team dared to ask what was going on.

Soon enough everything became clearer when Nathalie came storming in and taking out the guards. She was followed by Roman and another of Makarov's men. They quickly checked to see if the guards were dead and Nathalie walked towards the cage where Blue was held in. She broke the lock letting her three year old puppy out. Blue couldn't contain himself jumping around her and licking her hands. Meanwhile Roman used keys he stole from another person to unlock Smith's 'cage'. She wasn't sure what was going on and stood planted in the centre of her cell before Nathalie came closer to the entrance.

"Let's go. We're getting you out of here." She said and pushed the door open to the fullest. Jennifer walked up to Nathalie who led her to the other Makarov's man. "Listen to him and he will get you out of here. When you are away from this place and Makarov won't be able to track you call this number." Nathalie searched through her pocket and gave Jennifer a phone with a number written down on the backside of it.

"What about the others?" Asked Smith worried. She glanced at the rest of the team still sitting behind the bars.

"I'm working on it. I promise I'll get all of you out of here." Said Nathalie and also looked at her team. She really wanted to make sure they were alright but there was no time so she continued her instructions to Smith. "Listen, call this person and tell him I gave you this number. Explain this whole situation and he will take you somewhere safe."

Nathalie then looked at Blue and told him to follow Jennifer closely. He walked to her side and Silver nodded to the man who was supposed to get Smith and Blue put of there. He took her by the arm and led her out of the basement.

"Time to make a good distraction for them." Said Nathalie and walked closer to Roman who clearly wasn't too happy with the plan he came up with himself. He nodded and Nathalie threw a punch sending him to the ground.

"What the hell?" Said Devon who was watching the whole situation closely. No one seemed to understand why she was attacking her ally.

Roman sat up and pulled out a knife cutting his palm deep enough for rivers of blood to start pouring out of his hand. He quickly smudged it around his nose and lips and spread over his sweatshirt to look like he took quite a beating. Then he handed the knife to Nathalie who took it by the handle and cleaned the blood of the blade on the side of her thigh. She took assault rifle off one of the dead bodies and ran out of the basement.

"What is going on?" Asked Devon kneeling by the bars looking at Roman who was still wiping blood onto his clothes.

"I didn't help your friend escape. Nathalie did it all on her own." Said Roman and looked at Liam. "If I did help you I would be dead. Makarov can't stand traitors."

"Can we trust you?" Asked Heywood walking as close as the cell's walls let him. "Is Smith going to be fine?"

"Lieutenant trusts them." Said Simons rolling on the ground. "You never had the need to question her decisions. She was always right." Jason said sarcastically and flipped him off making faces.

"Well at least I care about them, unlike you."

"Quit fighting." Said Roman and they fell silent waiting for an unknown. He lifted himself up looking weak and beaten, you could see it wasn't the first time he pretended to be hurt.

A couple of minutes later Makarov have shown up to see what mess his daughter had caused. He was followed by a couple of his men who were ready for battle and a very serious one. You could say they were armed from head to toes, even more than the ones Nathalie had taken out.

Makarov walked closer to Roman and pulled him by the arm to face him. The sight of him covered in blood made anger rush through Vladimir's body. He let go of Roman without saying anything and walked around the basement looking if she got any of her friends. When he saw that the girl and the dog were missing he shouted at his men. "Go get them! What are you waiting for?" His men rushed out when they heard their angry leader. "And send more here. We have rebels to deal with."

Makarov walked back to Roman and helped him walk back to the stairs from the basement. Younger man was struggling with moving and breathing which made Makarov really concerned. "Can you make it back on your own?"

Roman nodded and Vladimir let him go on his own. He continued watching the young soldier going up the stairs and wanted to help him when he stumbled and almost fell over. Roman mumbled "I'll be fine." And Makarov stayed back feeling completely torn apart. It was his daughter he had to punish. It was his daughter who he had taken and forced to work for him against her will. It was him who made this mess knowing it wouldn't end well but he had to get a clear path for the elections next year without having his name flashing in the headlines.

Makarov paced around the basement in front of the captives feeling pain in his chest. She was right, he was a monster, a possessive monster that never could let go of her. The person who made her suffer the most. He broke his promise to never break into her life but he always did. There was no chance for the man to become any better. It was his life and his way; Makarov was working on it for too long to give up. Nathalie grew up from a little baby always running after him to a grown woman trying to leave him behind. It's been 25 years. 25 years he went for his goal and 25 years he destroyed his relationship with his daughter. It was already far too late to change.

Makarov sighed and cleared his throat. Even after all those years he felt affection towards his daughter and telling his men to hurt her wasn't easy. When enough men gathered downstairs he turned to face all of his prisoners. "You will pay for this. I hope you are happy your superior is doing everything to make you suffer." Makarov looked at them and his eyes got stuck on Simons who had completely different expression than everyone else. He wasn't concerned or scared for his life, it looked like he couldn't care less about the situation but Makarov didn't take much notice to it because he already had a plan for him. "Teach them a lesson on misbehaving but be soft, we only need them to fuel Nathalie to keep on working. Afterwards tie them up and throw them into the truck. We will be moving. Can't let our escaped friend bring any friends to ruin our plans." He said and walked past his men and up the stairs out of the basement. Makarov had a bad feeling and was quite right when he saw his men dragging his daughter to him.

"We got her." Said one of them.

"I can see that." Said Vladimir all angry. He saw that they shot her in the leg when they were dragging her it left a bloody trail on the ground. Nathalie let her head hang low with her beautiful long hair falling over her face, shoulders, and back. Makarov looked at her with a pity and took a deep breath. "Make sure she regrets what she did but don't go too far, she still has work to do for us."

"Got it." They got a firmer grip on her and were ready to drag her somewhere to torture but Makarov grabbed one of them by the shirt.

"If any of you disgrace her... if you rape her or even think about it I will personally bury alive every single one of you. She is still my daughter and as her father I'll make you suffer. You know me."

They nodded and Makarov let go of him. He walked after them for a little bit and then entered his room where he had a mini bar. Makarov noticed when a bottle went missing and knew it was her job but didn't care that much. He opened it and took a bottle of vodka and opened it. Without hesitation he drank it straight out of bottle trying to drown the pain in his chest. He needed some way to relax and forget that there in another room was his daughter getting beaten up and tortured just because he said so.

* * *

"So you are saying Makarov got his hands on Nathalie and your whole team?"

"Yes, she got someone from his men to help me escape and gave me this number." Explained Jennifer to the man that answered her call. She was in a completely unknown place unable to speak the language locals were talking in and she would be panicking more if Blue wasn't with her or if the man who drove her out of there didn't give her a pistol and some money.

"Where are you now?" Asked the man with Russian accent.

"I have no idea. It's a town, not really a big one but there are a lot of people around. I must have wandered into a market or something." She tried to explain surroundings to him but was no help. How many towns in the world, or at least over Europe and Asia had small towns with markets. And the unfamiliar language could have been Russian or any other language from Slavic branch.

"Wait there, I'll track your call and send help. Just don't lose your phone."

"Alright." She said and petted Blue who was following her closely from the time Nathalie told him to. Jennifer listened to the person who was talking to someone else on the phone.

"It's your lucky day, MacTavish. You won't have to go far looking for them. One of them escaped and called me. I'm sending the coordinates."

'Did he just say MacTavish' thought Smith still listening to him. 'Is that the same one that Nathalie was dating?' Jennifer trembled at the thought of seeing him. She haven't seen him in a while and things got bad between him and Nathalie. Though even then getting away from the nightmare of being captive was promising.

"Stay put, darling. They will be with you as soon as possible." She heard the man speak directly to her this time.

"Okay, I'm waiting." Said Jennifer and looked around the market. She was getting thirsty and hungry and she had a feeling Blue was too. The starvation of couple days made her a little weak and needy, the food was necessary. Smith walked around for a little bit and even without knowing the language she bought some fruits, a bottle of water, and a few pieces of raw meat. She settled on the ground by the entrance of the market where she was when she first called for help. First thing she did was drink water and let Blue drink some of it from her palm. Once they finished the water Jennifer put the pieces of meat on the ground letting Blue eat them. It wasn't the best food for a dog especially since it was uncooked but he was probably just as starving as she was and it was better than nothing at the time.

When she saw MacTavish and a few of his fellow soldiers walking towards her over half an hour had passed since the call and Smith was done with eating. She got up from the ground and walked closer to him. "Captain." She said hurrying towards them with Blue running after her. He clearly recognised his owners lover and began jumping around him.

"Jennifer? Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" He asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

"No, I am fine. But I'm afraid the others that are left there are going to suffer. Especially Nathalie for helping me escape. We have to help him." She began saying it all rapidly and panicking at the thought of making others suffer.

"We will get to them soon. You'll tell us everything you know on our way back and then we will have our new plan of action." Said John and led her towards where they came from at first. "Meat, check our six."

"Rog." Said one of the soldiers and pulled out the pistol scanning the area behind them.

While they were walking back Jennifer explained every detail of what she heard when she was locked up with the hope they would be able to do anything.

* * *

Even though Nathalie felt like crap after her 'lesson' Makarov still sent her on another assassination mission. It was hard to breathe and move they probably broke her ribs. She lifted her shirt to see a big blue, purple, and red mark going over her stomach. Nathalie shivered at the sight of her blood forming into a huge bruise under her skin. She stopped looking at her injuries and geared up to go inside the building she was supposed to be waiting for an ambush. Nathalie tried her best not to cry out when taking her pistol since it was painful. One of Makarov's men stepped on her hand full weight trying to stop her from covering her soft spots from hitting.

She sighed and walked inside the building a little limp from the bullet wound in her leg and holding her pistol in front of her with her hands trembling from pain. The building was supposedly empty but Nathalie still walked around cautious. She looked around to see that the first room was completely empty. Silver sighed in relief which made her stomach and ribs hurt. It was a dick move from Makarov to not even let her patch herself up or get some painkillers. Though it was understandable why he was doing it. Like an addict is looking for another dose she would be begging for mercy. That's exactly what he needed for her to be weak and helpless.

While walking into a next room she gripped her pistol firmer which made her groan in pain. Taking first few steps she was attacked from the side and dropped the pistol but managed to hit her attacker with an elbow. Not wanting to give him a chance to hurt her more than she already was Nathalie gripped his arm and threw him around her side and to the ground. He was struggling trying to get her off of himself but even then Silver managed to keep him down holding her knee on his throat. Before she could realise what exactly was happening to other men grabbed her by the arms and pulled off of him. Nathalie tried to fight back but sharp pain pierced abdomen and she gave in barely holding on her feet. Their grip on her loosened when they dragged her acrosd the room and she grabbed one of them for support.

"Lieutenant!" Nathalie heard someone shout and looked around to see Smith rushing at her.

"Jennifer. What are you doing here?" She forced out through her closed teeth.

"Captain brought me here because I asked him to." Explained Jennifer and Nathalie noticed MacTavish helping his soldier that was almost choked by her back on his feet. Smith took Nathalie by the elbow to support her and asked. "Are you okay? It seems like you are in a poor condition."

Without explaining Nathalie unzipped her vest with equipment and lifted her shirt to reveal a huge mark by the bottom of her ribs. She heard many of the TF141 soldiers sigh and gasp at the sight of her wound but she couldn't care less about them when she saw John walking closer. Nathalie's blood began boiling and she took a few steps towards him like she didn't even need the support in first place. "How could you leave me like that?" She shouted and slapped him with all her might which ended up hurting her more. Nathalie squealed when she felt the bone crushing pain kick in. "Fuck, fuck. Fuck!" She screamed in agony as she dropped down on the ground gasping for air that also caused pain.

MacTavish didn't expect her to react so hot in this situation but he had a feeling she hated him more than anything else. The sight of her suffering made his heart sink and without thinking he crouched down next to her carefully laying her down on the ground. When she was face up John saw tears running down her cheeks and temples. He looked up and saw his subordinate walking up to him. "Can you do anything to ease her pain, Ghost?"

"I have no idea but I'll try." He said checking her hand and stomach area. Ghost looked through his backpack in search for anything that could help.

"I'm sorry it happened like that. I didn't want to hurt your feelings like this." Said John looking at her face. It was dirty and bruised, covered in tears and swollen from one too many hits from Makarov's men but it was still pretty to him because it was the woman he loved. She was the one he dreamed of living a long life and getting old with. "I wish I could have made it up to you earlier. I apologise for it."

His words worked well for a distraction while Ghost was squeezing her hand. He carefully bandaged it and laid it down by her side. Then he began working on her leg. He took out the bullet and cleaned off the wound before he put a few layers of bandage on it and wrapped more around.

"Bones in her palm are definitely broken; if she doesn't move her hand it won't do much damage. Other than that I can't help her. We need a better medic."

"That will have to do for now. Thanks." She whispered to Ghost and grabbed MacTavish by the sleeve with her well hand. Nathalie tugged at it pulling herself to help her sit up since whatever movement her abs made inflicted even more pain. Gently John placed his arm on her back and helped her get up from the ground standing up himself. They were standing one in front of another and Nathalie looked up at him angry, stressed, and hurt. He tried to take her hand to help her stay on her feet but immediately she let go of his sleeve and stepped back to evade him. "Don't touch me." She said and turned away from him.

"What are we going to do now?" Asked Archer walking closer to their Captain. He was a little worried about the situation and if Nathalie would cooperate. Archer met her couple of times before and she seemed like a bright and happy person with Simons to cloud her shining at the times. At the time she looked like the darkness consumed her, she wasn't the same person anymore. "We still have to find others before Shepherd pull us out of here."

"Lieutenant, do you know where Makarov is holding our friends?" Asked Smith staying back from Nathalie. She was her superior but she was really damn scary. From the very beginning she put Jennifer to her place but it friendly and right thing to do as she wasn't skilled as others and saw herself as better. But Nathalie also taught her a lot and made her work hard; Jennifer almost though they could be friends with that other Nathalie. Everyone noticed the change in her, even MacTavish though he tried so much to deny it. She wasn't the same and the question was if there was a way for her to be like before.

"He was planning on moving to a different place when he sent me out but they might still be there. We have to go now if we want to make it in time."


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I wanted apologise and announce that I will quit writing for a while now. There are a lot of personal reasons that I don't want to discuss but I still hope you will enjoy this chapter.

* * *

MacTavish could say it was the most awkward helicopter ride in his life. Throughout the trip of about an hour no one said a word, not even whispered anything to one another like they used to on any other occasion. Nathalie was exhausted and trying to avoid the pain fell asleep leaning on Ghost's shoulder. Jennifer who was sitting right across from them and left from John seemed concerned about the whole situation. It was a one big shithole they were stuck in. She, Nathalie, and her teammates. It had a direct impact on her and it was completely normal for Jennifer to worry about others.

Nathalie was awoken by her dog licking her hand. It was almost time to land and his timing was perfect but the real reason why he did it is because he missed her. Blue might have been a 3 year old but at the times he was still a puppy who loved his owner with all his heart. Over the time he was closed in a small cage with no activities and loving, seeing Nathalie constantly angry or frustrated, Blue grew a little insecure and needed assurance from her. She smiled at him sitting by her feet and licking her fingers and gently scratched his ears. Getting excited he stood up and put one of his paws on her knee and other one on her chest to lick her face. Nathalie groaned at the pressure on her chest but it was bearable so she scratched Blue's sides, back, and belly.

It was a rare moment to see Nathalie smiling so honestly and naturally and John felt relieved that not everything was lost. That even at moments like that there was something to make her smile. He noticed that even Smith felt more relaxed seeing Nathalie feeling somewhat better.

"Sit." Said Nathalie and Blue backed away from her and sat down in front of her still wagging his tail.

"We're here." Said one of the pilots and the Task Force exited the heli aiming their weapons and looking around. Ghost helped Nathalie get out and she just walked past every other member that was waiting for Captain's orders.

"Where are you going?" Asked Meat looking at her walking past him. He looked back at Captain who was talking with the pilots.

"This place ia deserted. We're too late." She explained and walked towards the entrance of the building. Nathalie effortlessly pushed the door open and took a step back looking at the hallways expecting some kind of trap that Makarov left for her. Blue sniffed around and didn't show any signs of distress so she walked straight in. She had no idea what she should be looking for in this large building since her father must have taken everything while leaving. Once the Task Force caught up with her Nathalie walked through the hallways in the direction of the basement where her friends were kept. Blue was walking alongside her clearly familiar with the place just as she was.

"Ghost, Scarecrow, you're with me. Rest of you look around for any clues." Said MacTavish following Silver's lead.

It was a calm walk until they reached the staircase to the basement. Blue immediately started whining and scratching Nathalie's leg. She couldn't understand what he was trying tell her and so she thought that he didn't want to go back to the horrible place. The fact that he still followed her down the stairs made her feel uneasy knowing something was wrong. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she froze in her tracks. Nathalie could feel her guts turn inside and the 'breakfast' that Makarov's men gave her come back up. She gagged at the sight she met and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

There it was the sight that made her feel so bad. A man tied to a chair, covered in his own blood, tortured by a professional if you can say that. His body covered in cuts deep enough to draw blood, but not large to keep the victim bleeding slowly, dying in agonising pain. They were everywhere, on his face, neck, chest, and arms. Being shirtless you could see and count every cut on his body. That wasn't the worst; his torturers decided that wasn't bad enough and peeled off skin on his abdomen. The process of scarification, something that Nathalie herself tried not once back in the day. But it wasn't just a piece of skin ripped off of his flesh, it wasn't a picture that was popular to make and mark the victims, no, Makarov decided to make fun of Nathalie leaving her a message saying 'You promised to save me'. And that wasn't the worst either. He was still alive after all that torture and he spent four or five hours like that while she was gone.

Hearing footsteps around him the man opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Nathalie. It was Simons, she recognised him, and there was no way she couldn't have understood who he was. In shock of understanding what Makarov did to him she couldn't move from the place she was standing. MacTavish and his men walked past her and closer to Simons who at the sight of his superior smiled. He opened his mouth to say something but he started coughing out blood. Nathalie shivered and felt her eyes water up looking at him in such condition. When he finally managed to get a hold of himself he said "You look lovely today, princess. I'm glad I got to see you again." Almost choking on his own blood he had trouble breathing but he continued talking. "Please don't cry for me. I'm not worth your tears."

Silver couldn't hold back anymore and just turned around to run up the stairs. She walked around the corner and leaned on the wall with her hand before she threw up. Her head was so clouded from the things that were happening she didn't notice her surroundings anymore. She stood there staring forward blankly and didn't notice Blue scratching her, Jennifer walking past her to the basement, and didn't see how Ghost walked up to check up on her. He sighed and walked backed down where MacTavish talking with Simons. laying on the ground he told John about the things that he hear Makarov talk. It wasn't much they hoped it could help out in any way.

"Don't be such jerk, MacTavish." Said Simons looking at his former superior. "Take good care of Nathalie and promise you won't hurt her anymore."

"I promise." Said John and glanced at the direction of the stairs.

"Good to hear that." Said Simons and relaxed letting his last breath out. Jennifer who was holding his hand for comfort gently laid it on his chest. She wiped off her tears and looked at the commander.

"Think of a way to honour him and a place for burial." Said MacTavish looking at his soldiers and took a step towards the stairs. "I'm going to look for Silver." He said and walked off. John didn't feel any sympathy towards him because he acted like an asshole for a ton of times but he was a human and he was his team mate long time ago and that actually reached his heart. Only in certain situations you would leave the body unattended and that wasn't one of them. They couldn't get him back to UK and it was the only option just to bury him there. He felt nervous making this decision and needed an approval from someone else. Though even then most important thing to him was to make sure that Nathalie was okay.

"Did you see where Silver went?" He asked Meat who was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, she went to the left." Said Meat and walked past his superior.

John nodded and turned left at the end of the hallway. He checked every room on his way until he opened the door to the one where Nathalie was. She was sitting on the bed with a long band tied onto her left upper arm and a needle in her right one. She didn't take notice of him and stuck the needle into her veins.

"What are you doing?" Asked John walking inside the room. He put down his rifle on the table next to bunch of other weapons that were on it and walked closer to her.

"Drugs." She answered and squeeze the liquid into her system. Nathalie looked up at him getting closer to her and saw a confused expression on his face. She took a deep breath and pulled out a needle from underneath her skin. "It's morphine. In medicine it is used as a strong painkiller." Nathalie took of the band off her arm and put a cotton ball soaked in alcohol on the needle place. "For serious injuries it works perfect but it has very strong addicting qualities and some men, like my father, run it in drug industry."

John sat down next to her and took her hand carefully trying not to hurt her. Nathalie looked up at him and wondered if she should move away or not. He hurt her, he left her on her own for over a year and she was angry at him. On the other hand it was situation where she needed comfort and support which would be great from the person she loved. Silver sighed and squeezed his hand holding onto it she kicked off her boots and lifted her legs onto the bed. She groaned at the pain since the drugs haven't kicked in yet.

MacTavish took off his bulletproof vest and equipment to get more free space. He leaned onto the wall and let his love get comfortable at his side. She curled up under his arm and put her head on his chest feeling more relaxed than over the span of last few weeks. Nathalie was still very stressed but feeling the warmth of another person who didn't want to hurt her helped a lot.

"I've missed you more than my heart can handle." She whispered and felt his hear speed up. He leaned closer and kissed forehead barely holding tears back. Nathalie was his treasure, she was the only one for him and he couldn't believe himself. He let Makarov hurt her. He disappointed her and himself.

"I'm sorry. I truthfully regret doing this to you." He said putting his hand on her cheek and holding her close to him. "I know we will probably never be the same when this hell ends but..."

"I love you." She cut him off and looked up at John. Nathalie gently put her fingers inside the collar of his jacket and pulled out two chains. She looked at the dog tags and the little heart necklace that he had on and sighed. "Good thing I left my heart back home or else Makarov would have taken it away like everything else I have in my life." She made a little pause holding the little heart at the tip of her fingers. "He has to pay for what he has done." Nathalie put her hand on his chest and relaxed feeling a little drowsy. It wasn't just the side effect of the drugs; she had felt worn out for quite some time and when so much stress fell upon her in one day Nathalie couldn't fight anymore. She needed time to give up; to be week, and have someone else take care of her.

"He will." Said MacTavish stroking her dark hair. He knew that she liked it and that it worked soothingly. He kissed her forehead and relaxed too knowing it was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Sir, everything's ready." Were the words that brought John back to reality. He didn't realise when or how he fell asleep and was very surprised when Ghost came over to wake him up. MacTavish rubbed his eyes and gently stroked Nathalie's back trying to wake her up.

"What is ready, Ghost?" He asked when his love almost jumped straight up panicking.

Nathalie sat next to John looking disorientated and dizzy. She blinked a couple of times until her vision was focused and she understood her surroundings.

"Simons." Said Ghost without mentioning anything else and walked away.

Nathalie looked at John confused. She completely forgot about Jason and his condition when she walked away from the basement. "What about him?" Asked Nathalie quietly.

"He didn't make it. We can't get his body home and I though it wasn't right to leave it unattended."

Nathalie nodded and leaned over the edge of the bed to put her shoes on. Feeling awful for not being able to control herself she had hundreds of thoughts running through her head. From planning revenge to trying to apologize for the wrong things she did. Uncertainty was mixing up with all of the thoughts which left unclear emptiness instead of a steady plan of actions she wanted to make. Unable to get a hold of her mind she leaned back and looked at John who was putting on his armour. He noticed her staring and leaned in to kiss. "We'll get through this." He assured her and Nathalie nodded.

They took their weapons and walked outside the room. At the end of the hallway gathered whole Task Force waiting for their Captain. It was time to say last goodbyes to Jason Simons. John took Nathalie by the hand to make sure she was okay. Though she was walking a little bit behind him she was going forward knowing that it was inevitable and she had to pay for her mistake with other people's lives. Silver knew that she had quite a few chances to prevent this madness killing Makarov. There were times when they were alone or when there weren't many of his men around she could've done it with no effort. He was her father but he wasn't worthy of the title. He deserved to die.

They walked outside and Nathalie suddenly stopped. She let go of John's hand and stood there watching others from the distance. Silver didn't want to see her friend being buried. She didn't have the guts to face the consequences of her actions and decided to say that one last goodbye from a distance. It was never going to be the same without him. Even being a complete asshole he had his moments that made it worth being his friend. She had to say goodbye to a great companion who wasn't afraid of taking responsibility of his actions.

Nathalie wiped her tears away. He didn't want her to cry for him and she wasn't going to.

After it was all over they gathered at Makarov's old office to discuss the things they found searching the place. Someone found a phone with a note that was in Russian. None of them knew what was written there except for Nathalie who studied it closely. Her father made it Russian on purpose so that only she could read it. She squinted her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows folding the note into a ball inside her palm.

"What did it say?" Asked Ghost taking a step closer to the desk in the middle of the room and Nathalie whipped out a pistol aiming it right at them.

"Don't get closer." She said and took the phone from the desk. Nathalie looked around to see everyone tensed up but MacTavish stopped them from doing anything. She looked at him and then she dialled the only number in the phone contacts.

"Took your time, didn't you? Did you like the surprise I left?" She heard Makarov mock her answering the phone. Silver remained silent trying to stop herself from saying something that she shouldn't. "Don't want to cooperate? Your friends won't be too happy about it."

She sighed and pulled the phone away from her to whisper "I'm sorry but this is the only way." to John. Then she took a step back still aiming at them and put the phone up to her ear. "I don't care about your games, Makarov. If you want to have me as your soldier you have only one chance. We do a trade, me for exchange of my soldiers, you let them leave uninjured - I work for you."

"And if I don't want to do an exchange? What are you going to do then? Let them suffer?" Asked Makarov and put his phone closer to one of the soldiers that his men were torturing. He wanted to let Nathalie know that she didn't have any cards to play. His scream was loud enough for the whole Task Force to hear through the phone.

"Go on, kill them. If you want me to hunt you down, keep it up, but remember that when I find your safehouse only one person will leave it and it won't be you." She threatened her father and received a laugh from him. It all fell to a complete silence for a couple of minutes until he spoke again. "I'll send you a message where the exchange will happen."

Nathalie put down the phone and looked at others who were looking at her like she was insane. She put down her pistol and right away there was a wave of protest coming from them. Even those who didn't know much about Nathalie couldn't agree with her choice of giving herself in.

"Shut up." She shouted to get everyone's attention. "I'm savage. I aim my weapons at friends, I help monsters that kill for pleasure, I have no rules or boundaries. There is no way you can stop me now. So please, help me one last time. Save the innocents."

"We're not going to let Makarov take you away." Said John with his voice raised and walked up to the desk. He put his hands on top of it and leaned over it just tp make Nathalie put her pistol up to his chest.

"Face it, MacTavish. I'm no longer your girlfriend. I'm just an image of a person I used to be. She's gone. Nathalie is not here any more." Silver leaned back and lifted her arm up to aim right at his forehead.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Hello, dear readers, I decided to post another chapter of this story. My life was quite stressful and had it's ups and downs so I wanted to do something relaxing an fun which is writing. Hope you enjoy this chapter and see you some time later when all my problems are solved.

* * *

Few hours later Task Force was at the place where Makarov told them to be with additional chopper since the one that they had wasn't enough to bring Nathalie's team back home. John thought that her plan was madness and didn't want to let her go back to Makarov but she was determined, she aimed her weapon at him. He couldn't change her mind anymore; the time wasn't right and the situation wasn't right either. Their relationship wasn't stable enough if you could even call that mess a relationship. MacTavish just went with it knowing he was letting her write a death sentence for herself. It didn't mean anything that she was his daughter and John didn't have to tell her that; Nathalie knew it all herself well enough.

It broke her heart that she had to be so harsh with John knowing that they both still loved one another but he wouldn't have let her execute her crazy plan. Nathalie couldn't even let him know about her plans when she is back to Makarov. It was her and only her burden to carry. Of course she have thought of getting help from someone else that is not related to her or Makarov because killing your own father is plain madness no matter what kind of monster he is. Despite it she was willing to do it all on her own. It was her redemption.

After waiting for a while they finally saw armed jeeps and trucks driving towards them. Nathalie stood in front of the whole group waiting impatiently for the moment to reach the bottom. It was her time to lose all of the morals and play dirty, just the way Makarov would. The pain was gone from the morphine which made her concentrate on saving her team mates. She looked at the vehicles stopping and took a few steps forward to meet her father's gaze upon exiting the jeep. He nodded to his men and they began pulling Nathalie's team one by one out of the back of a truck. They didn't look too good, beaten up and covered in blood, but they didn't have any serious injuries. Soldiers walked them in a line and held them tight as Makarov walked up to Nathalie. They stood a few metres away from each other staring at each other. Even though Makarov expected to see his daughter angry or at least frustrated but her face was peaceful and calm.

"I want to see if they are alright." She said to him completely indifferent of anyone else's presence.

"Go on." Said Makarov and Nathalie walked past her father to her teammates. Carefully she checked up on Devon and pulled him away from Makarov's man that was holding him. Silver pulled out her knife and cut the ropes tied on his hands. He turned around and hugged his superior whispering "You are the best leader, Lieutenant. Don't stop fighting.".

"Go over to them. They'll bring you home." She said and pushed him away. There was no time for sentiments so Nathalie walked up to another soldier. "Ghost, can you help me?" She called out.

Makarov who was facing the group turned to have her in the corner of his eye. He knew his daughter well enough; she wouldn't have done anything to make her team suffer. Nathalie was still too bright of a person to use the means that he uses for his victory. On the other hand MacTavish and his men were unpredictable and Vladimir had a feeling they were planning something. But Nathalie wasn't stupid and noticed it too so she decided to prevent any of their tricks by taking Ghost as a hostage. As he walked up to her she grabbed his arm locking it tightly behind his back and put her pistol up to the back of his head.

"Let my team go and cut off the ropes." She said and looked at the Task Force. They didn't expect anything like that from her but remained stationary not wanting to cause any problems to Nathalie's team.

Since Makarov's men were hesitant in doing what she told them to re turned back to them and calmly said "Do it."

Once they were released Nathalie nodded them to walk back to John and his team. She pushed Ghost towards his superior past her father. "Get my team into the choppers and get out while you still can." Said Nathalie looking at John apologetically. She didn't mean to hurt and betray him like that but it was already too late.

MacTavish was tensed from Nathalie's behaviour but ordered part of his men to take care of the others. He stood there with some of his men gripping their rifles in case things go south. It was a mistake letting her do this but there was no stopping to her. When they were done Archer patted MacTavish on the shoulder indicating that it was time for them to leave. "Let him go, Silver. We did what you asked." Said John to Nathalie and sighed watching Makarov who was clearly enjoying the situation.

Nathalie let go of Ghost's arm and said "Walk." She still had her pistol aimed at his head but she wasn't willing to use it. Once the group was full they split out to different choppers leaving Nathalie with her father. She put down her weapon and turned to Makarov. He as always was wearing a dark suit and looked evil as hell. That's the word Nathalie chose to describe him because that's the only thing that he causes in this world and it fit the whole image.

He didn't say anything to her but took her by the hand and led to his jeep. Makarov pushed her into the trunk and told his men to gather back into the vehicles. He entered the jeep from the other side and ordered his soldier to drive. Vladimir looked at his daughter to see her shaking. He gently touched her cheek and she turned her head to look at him. Tears were streaming down her face and he moved closer to pull Nathalie into an embrace. She leaned on to his chest and continued sobbing.

"Did he tell you the truth?" Asked Makarov trying to distract her from sorrow she was feeling.

"What?" She asked sniffing and rubbing her eyes from tears.

"Did Simons tell you the truth before he snuffed out?" He asked again making it clearer. Nathalie moved away from her father and looked at him with puzzled look on her face. Makarov sighed and began explaining. "He was working for me from the very beginning. There's no man that cannot be bought you just need a right sum of money. With of course only one exception which is your boyfriend. I don't think I would ever be able to get him."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Nathalie unable to process the words her father was saying. She couldn't believe that all the time, all those years her best friend was just another Makarov's toy. "You can't just let me be, can you?" Anger sparked inside her like a fire and she wanted to hit her father but he caught her by the wrist.

"Relax. I didn't keep him there to be close to you. I let you go to be whoever you wanted to be and you just ended up there. I needed him to be close to MacTavish since he has to pay for Zakhaev's death." Makarov explained calmly letting go of her hand. She was going insane and he knew that it was his fault. Her world was falling apart to the point of no coming back and he decided to finish his job. It was too easy to manipulate when the person doesn't have a hold of themselves. "He fell in love with you eventually and thought he would get away with staying with you instead of going with MacTavish. I gave him a chance to tell you the truth and live but he decided not to and so I gave him what he wanted, a slow and agonising death."

Nathalie turned away and punched the window only to wince in pain from broken bones. Tears burst out of her eyes once again and she mumbled "Ain't this a complete shithole." Carefully she put her bandaged hand by her side and leaned back slowly easing into her seat. It was futile to try and fight back since she was only fighting herself.

"What happened to your hand?" Asked Makarov gently touching her arm.

"Your men broke my bones."

"Viktor, take us to the hospital." Said Makarov to his driver and looked at his daughter. "We have to fix this."

* * *

You could feel the tension inside the helicopter where MacTavish had a silent argument with Nathalie's men. None of them said a word but they all knew what was going through each other's minds. Devon who was rubbing his blood off of his face was the moat determined to cover Nathalie if anyone decided throw trash at her name and he was expecting MacTavish to do so. He knew he was going to do it and couldn't let him try. Heywood and MacTavish had a stare off and Landford spoke first.

"We should relax. It's over." He said to two of his teammates who were restless knowing what was waiting for Nathalie that they left behind.

"It's impossible to relax, Cameron. Can you imagine what will happen to Silver? And what we're supposed to do when this asshole wants to betray her once again?" Asked Devon beginning a hot argument between them all. Even some of MacTavish men seemed to oppose the idea of writing a truthful report on her behaviour.

"She was the one who betrayed us. Didn't see her aiming at one of our soldiers? And keep your tone down soldier." Said John angry and frustrated about the outcome of the situation.

"I am no soldier. Do you see anything that would indicate me as a soldier? Maybe my dog tags, or patches, or my uniform?" He shouted and stood up from his seat. "Makarov took away everything from me. From us. And only one person protected us. You expect me not to stand like a rock protecting her name?"

"Sit down, Liam." Said Heywood and pulled him back to sit down. "Fighting won't solve anything."

"I know. I just can't believe that he's going to back stab her after she did so much for us." Devon sat down putting his elbows on his knees and let his head hang low. He didn't like a single thing she did during the time of their captivity: killing civilians, selling people into slavery, dealing drugs. It might not have been the only option to do everything Makarov wanted but then maybe none of them would've left that place alive. 'Just think of how Simons ended up.' He thought to himself trying to justify Nathalie's actions. "You can't tell them the truth. She doesn't deserve more shit than she already had to go through."

"Nathalie did it all herself and my job is to tell my superiors the truth." Said John feeling emptiness where his heart was. There was no love there anymore only void slowly eating him from inside. Overall he was taken over by a feeling of slow drowning; his chest felt heavy, his breathing wasn't steady, and it he was sure he was about to blackout. But even then something couldn't let him do it; some kind of thought hiding in the back of his head told John to be softer with her. "I won't tell them things they don't need to know. I won't let you create some magical story about how she is a hero but she is not a villain either."

Devon didn't say anything to John and neither did any other soldiers. Landford put his hand on Devon's shoulder trying to get him to relax. They were going home and that was all that should have mattered at the time. 'Nathalie will make it, we just have to believe in her' he thought and leaned back into his seat hoping for the best.

* * *

Before Makarov brought Nathalie back to his safe house, an old psychiatric hospital, they went to the hospital where doctors fixed her more or less. They set her palm bones in place and put her hand in a cast, and they managed to sew the bullet wound to close it. Her abdomen was a completely different story though. She didn't have an internal bleeding or broken ribs but doctors still wanted to make sure that Nathalie was alright and keep her in the hospital for a few days. Obviously Makarov didn't have that much time to spare so he simply walked her out of there. She followed him like a helpless puppy which she kind of was. Helpless and naive, walking after a man that will only bring misery upon her.

Both Nathalie and Vladimir had mixed feelings about one another and they couldn't help it. To him she was still his daughter but she was also a tool he needed to use to make sure that his plans to conquer Russia and Europe are executed. And to Nathalie he was a monster that used every chance he got to destroy her life and dreams but he was her father and cared for her even if he didn't know how to show it.

She got a small room to stay at while she heals and works for him. It was much smaller than the ones she had before but she couldn't complain. Makarov still could have thrown her into a cell with no comfort since he was ruthless enough to send her out without taking care of her wounds. Not that much of a fatherly love he shown during her life and that's why she was determined to take him down.

Nathalie lay down in the bed trying to relax and gather some strength. She was feeling that the painkiller is slowly losing it's effect and her wounds seemed irritated and sore. Silver was sure that medics took good care and cleaned the wounds but the itchy and pulsating feeling made her a little worried. In case of infection she would need to clean out the wounds again and probably get some medicine other than painkillers, probably antibiotics. And it was quite obvious Makarov wouldn't have let him do any of that. He was there for her only when he knew he could manipulate her even more.

Nathalie rolled around unable to find a comfortable position to lay in. She sighed and settled on her side staring at the wall for quite some time which honestly seemed like an eternity. Crazy thoughts were roaming her mind and Nathalie couldn't fall asleep. It was the only thing she needed to rest and clear out her head.

Slowly a feeling of sleepiness was creeping onto her but she didn't enjoy it for long when someone walked in her room. Silver moved in the bed to sit up and saw a familiar face that she was utterly happy to see. "Yuri," she whispered and smiled with tears in her eyes.

He closed the door behind him and took a few steps to her. Yuri sat down and pulled her closer into a warm embrace. He looked the same as the last time she saw him few years ago and he was just as warm towards her as before. "How are you feeling?" Yuri asked her quietly and felt Nathalie shake her head in response. "I wish I could be here for you but I was only given a couple of minutes." He explained the situation and pulled out a pistol out of his equipment vest. "Roman asked me to bring you this."

Nathalie leaned back to see what Yuri was talking about but stayed close to feel his presence. She took the handgun to indicate that it was M45A1. It was more than what she expected Roman to get her in secret. She thanked Yuri for getting it to her and hugged him once again feeling his calming presence.


	9. Chapter 8

In couple hours of flying Task Force finally reached the territory of UK. It was a long and tiring trip back home and MacTavish couldn't wait to leave the chopper and have a cigar to set his mind straight. Two opposing thoughts were fighting inside him. One couldn't believe that he actually gave Nathalie away to Makarov and the other one didn't want to believe that she could aim her pistol right at him. Either one of them hurt him worse than any battle wound would. It was bloody time to let her go; whole world was telling him to do so but he kept clinging onto her and look where it brought him to.

When they landed and were helping Nathalie's team leave the helicopters Task Force received a warm welcome from the soldiers that were already waiting for them. Who wouldn't wait to see the soldiers that were missing for over a month? Men themselves were happy to be back home and only Smith didn't even care about it. MacTavish walked up to her and asked "What's wrong?"

She was sitting on the ground petting and scratching Blue who was happy to get attention. Jennifer looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Everything is." She said and started sobbing. Blue gently leaned forward and licked her face trying to calm her down. "We have left Nathalie in Makarov's hands. And Blue is now an orphan."

"We will get her back. Relax, it's over for you." He said and gave her a hand to get up from the ground. "I will take care of Blue, too. Probably take him to her family until she is back with us. Now you just have to rest." He assured her of his plans though he was making them as he spoke.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Captain. Wouldn't want to carry a burden of anything happening to her, would you?" She said and looked at him worried. There was no plan yet and Jennifer knew that. She sighed and let it go leaving Blue with him. Smith walked away with one of her fellow soldiers. MacTavish pulled out a cigar and lit it up looking at Blue sitting by his feet. He didn't know what was going to happen to his owner and had no idea that it might have been the last time he saw Nathalie. But he would still wait for her to come back to him.

"You know I never liked dogs." Said John and crouched to gently pat Blue on the head. He scratched his ears and looked into his eyes. "I never thought I would like an animal like you but Nathalie changed my mind. You know we are quite alike right now, Blue. Hoping that she still loves us and comes back; that she will be there and hold us close saying sweet things."

Blue let out a sad whine and licked John's hand as if telling him that he understands it, that he knows what he means. "You understand me, don't you? You know what I feel because you feel the same." Said John and Blue barked in response.

"Alright, time to bring you to your temporary home." Said John to Blue who followed him back to the chopper.

They visited Hereford where John explained the whole situation to General MacMillan. It was an unexpected visit for him but he promised to take care of Blue and look for any information about Nathalie. He noticed the disappointment in John's eyes when they were talking and tried to comfort him but it was no use. MacTavish was stuck in his own world of thoughts.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Makarov just came back from his meeting with drug producer that provided a new portion to sell. Two weeks from the first time that Nathalie was brought there and she was already feeling much better with her wounds healing. She felt confident that it was the time to execute her crazy plan to kill Makarov. She planned it with help of Roman and if it is successful it would be the end to her struggle. If. There was a huge if on success of their idea. Nathalie's right hand was still in a cast from broken bones and she was obviously not as skilled in using her left one. Then Roman had the escape planned but getting to it was one hell of a task. With the whole building swarming with Makarov's men that couldn't stand her, reaching the ground floor and doing it uninjured was nearly impossible.

Nevertheless Nathalie wanted to do it, she had to do it and it was her only chance to. Roman promised to prepare everything for the evening and so she got her pistol and hid it underneath her sweatshirt before she left her room. Most of Makarov's men were busy or asleep at the time and so no one was guarding the door. She walked out and went to her father's temporary office which in the past was the nurse gathering room. It was bright and wide with a large window for a nice view during the day. Makarov was facing the entrance talking to one of his 'officers'. She counted the guards around the room as she took a few steps forward. 'Five. Not that easy of a task for an injured.' she thought and noticed that Vladimir's attention was on her.

"Why are you here?" He asked quite harsh a little irritated after a long day and sighed knowing that he sounded angrier than he intended at the first place.

"I came here to apologise for being an awful daughter. I..." words got stuck in her throat as she tried to make it sound believable and honest. "I sometimes think what would have happened if I wasn't that naive and didn't try to play a hero, try to change the world. It wouldn't be this traumatic to both of us... we would be a family."

It looked like Makarov bought her little emotional opening and seemed distracted and Nathalie knew that it was the time. She pulled up her sweatshirt and grabbed the pistol with her left hand. Silver straightened her arm and sent two bullets in her father's direction. Both of them were accurate hitting him to the left shoulder and lower abdomen. She wanted to take another shot but she had to deal with his guards that were pulling out their weapons. Three that were further away she successfully engaged while two that were closer came rushing towards her. Nathalie blocked his attack with her hand in the cast but the other one managed to grab her by the arms. She grasped pistol tightly when she jumped up and swung her legs up on the guards shoulders. She twisted her legs together getting him between her thighs and slowly choking him. The first one let go of her making her swing down with her whole body so she used the momentum to swing the trapped man over her.

Nathalie hit the ground with her right side and leaned over it to shoot the guard. Quickly she broke the neck of the man between her thighs and got off the ground. She saw Makarov leaning over the desk with his white shirt soaked red. He pulled out his weapon but then collapsed on his desk and Nathalie knew she didn't have time to make sure he was shot lethally. She ran outside the office and saw more guards who obviously heard the gunfire rushing towards her. Cursing over her breath she counted how many bullets she had left. Two were in Makarov and four in his guards which meant she had only two left. Depending on her ability to run Nathalie turned into an opposite direction and sprinted down the hall. There were shots behind her but to a surprise none of them hit her.

"We have to take her alive." Silver heard them say before she turned around the corner looking for a way to the ground floor. Her father never used the place before and she wasn't too familiar with it. Running further she met even more resistance.

"Where in the hell is he?" She asked herself while trying to fight off Makarov's men. Roman was supposed to come over when to the office when he heard gunfire and he wasn't there. Their second meeting place was the main entrance and Nathalie had to hurry if she wanted to make it out of there. Fighting she felt irritation in her leg and realised that her bullet wound hadn't healed yet and might come open any time. She changed the bandage earlier that day and it looked better than it probably was.

Unexpectedly someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled inside a room. Nathalie was about to hit the person but put down her pistol when she saw Yuri holding her. He was clearly shocked by the fact that Nathalie actually decided to kill Makarov but he was also angry that she made such a mess instead of going for a quick and quiet kill.

"Why are you still here?" He asked her holding the door closed.

"Looks like Roman bailed and left me on my own." Said Nathalie catching her breath after running and fighting.

"We still have to get you out of here. When I say you go, I'll distract others." Said Yuri and took out one of his pistols. He gave one to Nathalie and prepared his own. Opening the door he stepped outside and nodded to Nathalie. "Let's go." She walked after him making sure she can use switch from one pistol to another quickly. They reached the staircase and heard voices coming from below. "Remember, you're on your own after this." Said Yuri and walked in front to distract them while Nathalie waited covering their back. When they moved away she took the steps down trying to sneak past any of them that were looking for her. It wasn't too difficult to reach the exit but it was guarded and Nathalie didn't wait for anything and sent two last bullets in their direction.

Nathalie threw away that pistol and pulled out a new one that Yuri gave her while she opened the door outside. It was dark and she could barely see her surroundings the only thing that she felt was cold heavy rain pouring down on her skin. The old hospital was surrounded by a park and its territory was fenced. Obviously there were Makarov's men patrolling it and because Roman bailed she had to make it through on her own which wasn't an easy task. Even then she didn't give up. That usually wasn't in her plans unless she was helplessly stuck in a situation she couldn't escape.

Nathalie took a run for it through the park hoping that between the trees she would attract less attention. Unfortunately she ran into a soldier which she couldn't run away from and had to fight. Her wounded leg was soaked from rain and had a spreading burning sensation which gave her opponent an advantage. Despite her all efforts to fight back Nathalie soon ended up with her hands handcuffed behind her back as the enemy holding her by the ankle dragged her through the mud back to psychiatric hospital.

"You should take her more seriously." He said to another one when they were by the entrance. "Even injured she can cause this much trouble. No wonder Makarov wants her to work for him so bad."

"Yeah, we'll see how she deals with it while being drugged. And Makarov won't take any of her shit after this. He will spend good two weeks in a hospital if not more." Said the other one and helped him drag Nathalie back inside. They pulled her through hallways and she left a dark mud trail on the floor behind her until they threw her into one of the rooms.

It was bright but cold with the wallpaper peeling off showing the cracks in the wall underneath it. There was a table and two chairs on the opposite sides of it. It probably was a therapy room where the patient talked with doctor about his issues. Nathalie shivered at the thought of being trapped in there but with those animals that didn't have the authority to put them in place. You could expect anything from them. And the bad feeling remained in her guts until they finally decided to show up only by the end of the following day.

Wasting no time they decided to take an advantage of her father being gone. Three of them entered the room and one stayed by the door as a guard. The other two walked up to her and pulled off the floor. Nathalie tried to push away from them but she felt weak after the events of last night and their grip on her was too strong. They pressed her up to the wall and one of them took a needle and put it against her skin on the neck. Nathalie shivered at the feeling of cold metal right at her veins and one of the soldiers laughed at it "Don't struggle. You'll simply make things worse. We don't want you to end up with your corpse, do we?"

The needle slowly slid in under her skin and her enemy injected the drugs in to her system. He pulled the needle out quite harshly which made her squirm in pain. Not giving a damn about what she was feeling the pushed her to the table and over it face down. Nathalie knew that something she wanted to protect Jennifer from so much, was about to happen to her. With all the selfless effort to save her, Nathalie forgot that she was a woman herself and was just as vulnerable. One of them stood behind her and pulled out his knife from the holster. Ruthlessly he began cutting and ripping her clothes off even making cuts on her skin; her arms, back, and legs. Even though they weren't deep she could feel fierce pain going through them. It was one strong dose of drugs that allowed her to feel every part of her body but made them unresponsive. The more she struggled the fasted it travelled through her blood making her weaker and weaker.

Without hesitation he pushed all his length inside her making her groan from pain she felt. He dropped the knife and grabbed her hair that was still muddy and pulled it back to make her face him. "You're going to enjoy this so much, you slut." He said and pulled out just to jam it back in and lean over her with all his weight. He then grabbed her by the hips forcefully squeezing her skin between his fingers. Feeling the pain, shame, disgust, and disgrace, Nathalie's face flooded with hot tears. Even through them she could see the man that drugged her waiting for his own turn to make fun of her and her body in the most disgusting way possible. It was the longest hour of her life feeling her rapist touch her whole body the way he wanted unable to do anything about it. Helpless she wanted the only thing which was death, sadly unachievable at that moment.

Praying for a miracle she stayed there hoping that the torture will end. Seemingly her prayer was heard when the door to the room burst open and after gunfire the presence of her torturer was gone. Handcuffs loosened and she felt how someone picked her up. Through the tears and clouded mind she understood that was Roman holding her up. He carried her out of there completely naked into another bright room. Soon Nathalie felt warm water on her skin and ground beneath her feet. The drugs were still keeping her unable to control herself so Roman held her upright trying to wash out mud from her hair, dirt off her skin, and dried up blood all around the cuts.

She felt both grateful and hateful towards him. Nathalie felt relieved that he stopped the hell she was in but she hated him because it was his fault she ended up there. Despite all of the feelings and emotions brewing inside her she was unable to do anything but sob uncontrollably while Roman was taking care of her. When she was more or less clean he turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her body. He gently picked her up again and carried her to his room. Few of Makarov's soldiers saw him but none dared to interfere knowing that anyone who had anything to do with his daughter's disgracing would suffer horrible consequences.

Roman laid her on his bed and looked for any clothes she could wear. He took all of the smallest clothes he had and helped her dress up. Nathalie looked up at him and hit him on the head with her cast using all of the strength she had remaining. "It's your entire fault." She screamed with tears constantly soaking her face. Nathalie was drained out and just fell into his chest trying to somehow stop crying and sobbing and just pass out to sleep where not guaranteed but she could still try to find peace. He put his arms around her trying to calm her down unable to speak knowing that it really was his fault she was suffering so much.

* * *

"You seem distressed, sir. Should I be in charge of training today?" Asked Ghost seeing his Captain pace around the training grounds blowing out the smoke of his cigar. MacTavish couldn't sleep all night feeling anxious and scared of the unknown reason. In the morning all of his muscles seemed sore despite the fact that the previous day they didn't have any training.

"Sure. I don't think I will be able to concentrate on anything today." He answered knowing that his words were completely true. There was no way he could have taken his work seriously when he could constantly feel nauseous. "Something happened to her." Mumbled MacTavish being in deep thought.

"Who?" Asked Ghost as if not knowing who MacTavish actually was talking about. It was to make him spill the beans more quickly like always. They were like best friends and sharing things like what made them distressed was one of the things they shared with one another.

"Nathalie. I know for sure because there was only one time in the past when I felt something like this. It was when we first encountered Makarov and she was heavily wounded, you should remember." Explained John and sat down on weapon crate next to Ghost.

"I remember. You still feel the same about her like back then? Even after all that happened? I mean she was ready to shoot us all if we..."

"She did it the way she saw right at the moment. All she wanted to do was save her team." MacTavish cut off his subordinate and made a little pause thinking of what he was feeling. It hurt like a motherfucker when he thought of Nathalie aiming her weapon right at him but the old feelings remain and come stronger every day thinking of her. still love her." He said and sighed feeling that he wasn't going to be able to train at all. "I'm going to get a drink." Said John and got up to walk away.


	10. Chapter 9

After a long week Makarov was back from the hospital and immediately Roman went to talk with him about Nathalie. At first he didn't let anyone inside his office but after a long hour of waiting Roman finally got a chance to enter. Without hesitation he walked up to Makarov's work desk and said "We have to talk about Nathalie."

"I don't have time nor want to talk about her. Go away while you still can, Roman." Said Makarov sitting in his chair with a glass of expensive bourbon slowly sipping it. Overall he looked worse than usually, a lot weaker and tired, with dark circles under his eyes.

"I can't go away, it's important." Insisted Roman not moving out of his place. He wanted to spill it out but Makarov was cutting him off telling him to go away. He stood up from his chair and was about to shout from the top of his lungs and Roman didn't wait for that to happen. "Nathalie was raped." He said and saw Vladimir's expression change immediately.

From irritated and tired it went to a mix of pain, sadness, and anger. Pure fury was flowing through his body from the words he heard. Makarov threw the glass into the wall and groaned from the instant pain he felt in his chest and abdomen. The wounds he suffered from were nowhere close to closing. Nathalie was one hell of a master when it came to killing, even shooting with non-dominant hand she managed to hit two close to biggest veins in body. It took doctors hours to fix him and compensate the enormous blood loss. He adored her ability to do things like that though it was not nearly as fun when he suffered from it.

"Who did it?" He asked putting his hands on the desk for support. Makarov was shaking from rage barely containing himself. He gave out clear order to not touch her in any way and anyone who didn't comply had to suffer. "Where are those bastards?"

"I-I killed one. Other two are held captive." Said Roman a little frightened from his sudden rage. Usually Makarov would remain cold blooded no matter how angry he was. He had his mind clear ready to make another mastermind plan to win in any situation.

"Get them to the main hall and hang them by their hands." Said Makarov searching through his desk.

"It's not all. There's something else I need to talk with you about." Said Roman trying to get Makarov to listen.

"Get out. We will talk when I deal with my enemies." Said Makarov taking a knife and a baton with him.

Roman nodded and walked outside while Makarov took the whole bottle of bourbon and chugged right out of it. Feeling angry and bloodthirsty he burst out of the room and walked through the hallways and staircases to the ground floor and main hall where he asked Roman to bring the two men. The word about this event got passed very quickly as there were groups of Makarov's men gathering around.

"Would you look at that. The hunters became the prey." He said enjoying the view of the torturers that were about to be tortured themselves. Vladimir walked closer to them and took his baton. He stood right next to the one who drugged his daughter and in completely formal tone said "Today we play a game called a piñata. Sometimes there are surprises like candy. But what I received was a surprise..." he swung the baton and hit the hanging man right into chest probably breaking a few ribs. "A surprise called 'I raped your daughter'." Continued Makarov and hit him again. And again, and again, and again. There was no stopping to him. No other hired gun he had dared to interfere because they knew Makarov would do the same to them.

In his ideology men can do whatever with the women they sell into slavery up to the point where they are still worth selling, but family is something completely different. Hurting family is a taboo. That's why he never hit Nathalie, not even once he dared to lift his hand against her. Makarov made his men do the dirty job when she misbehaved but he never did it himself. Even after all that he wouldn't have let anyone do something so disgusting to his daughter. He wasn't there to prevent it but that was because of Nathalie. No, don't think he blamed her, she did what she had to do, replayed for every time Makarov mistreated her, forced into doing or killing, keeping her against her will. He knew it well he deserved it and that the situation was just how the circumstances fell together.

After good fifteen minutes the one responsible for drugs was no longer breathing. Makarov dropped the baton on the ground and walked up to the other one pulling out a knife from inside of his belt. He stabbed the rapist a couple of times into the chest. "Is it fun?" He asked looking him in the eyes. "Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked again and cut off the rope making the man fall to the ground. Makarov crouched next to him and continuously stabbed his torso. Blood splattered all over Vladimir while he was letting all of his fury out. He felt tears forming in his eyes but held back and continued stabbing until there was basically no flesh to stab at, just blood and guts. Makarov stood up leaving his knife in the body of his victim.

Roman who witnessed the whole theatrical play seemed surprised. It was one of the first dirty jobs Makarov did himself since the time he came to rule the ultranationalist empire. Blood had covered most of his face and his white shirt which made him look terrifying. "I hope I made it clear that you have to follow the rules even when I am not there to watch how you follow them." He said and walked towards the exit. "Roman, walk with me."

Roman was a little frightened but followed his superior back to his office. Makarov took out a first aid kit out of the wardrobe and put it on the desk. Only then Roman noticed that not all blood was splattered on Makarov but there was a huge stain on his shoulder and it was getting bigger. Vladimir took off his shirt and completely soaked bandage revealing not only his great looking body but also a nasty open wound. Makarov folded his shirt and pressed it up to his wound trying to stop the bleeding.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" He asked sitting down on his chair.

Roman stayed standing in the middle of the room. He wondered if it was even right to ask Makarov for anything when he was mad but he knew that it might be the only chance to help Nathalie. "We have to get her out of here. She doesn't speak, doesn't eat, I barely manage to make her drink water. All day she spends staring at one dot without moving."

"And what do you want me to do? Walk up to my biggest enemy and say 'I completely destroyed the person your girlfriend once was. Enjoy having a living mental disorder.'" Said Makarov sarcastically upon hearing Roman's words.

"So it's better to let her slowly rot here?" Asked Roman angrily. He was frustrated knowing that Nathalie was suffering so much inside. "I'm asking you as a favour; let me get her where she belongs."

"A favour? You know that doesn't work with me. You pay then we do business." Said Makarov testing how far Roman was willing to go for Nathalie.

"What do I have to do?" He asked his leader full of disappointment. She was his daughter and all he cared for was his job. Not that it was an actual job, but a ridiculous plan to rule Russia.

Makarov sighed and looked at the youngster. He was serious, determined, and showed signs that Makarov was most afraid of. "Do you love her?" He asked already knowing the what Roman was about to say. "Don't answer that. Remember the work Nathalie had to do? Well, I wanted to ask you to complete it but to make it easier you'll only have to do the assassinations."

"And when I do it she will be free?" Asked Roman and walked closer to the desk where Makarov had all the files.

"Yes. When it's all done."

"How do I know nothing happens to her while I'm out there?"

"I'll take care of that."

Roman was a little sceptical whether he could trust Makarov but he took the folder with the information about his targets. It might have been the only way to make sure Nathalie is safe and sound, and far away from that place.

* * *

"It's been only a month since your team came back. Do you think they are ready for such trip?" Asked MacMillan sitting in his office with Colonel Watson sitting right in front of him. It was about a month and a half since they went missing and Nathalie was still there. She was the reason they gathered that day. They received a message with Silver's location and of course sent Nathalie's team and old Bravo Six on joined mission.

"They will be fine, Lieutenant Silver trained them." Answered Watson looking at General. They had a long discussion about the situation and the future of the soldiers under their command. There were a couple aspects where they seemed not to agree. "I expect her to stay in Colchester. You can keep the dog but she is staying."

Blue growled annoyed at the Colonels comment. John left him with General with a small favour, if by any chances Nathalie wasn't back in UK by the end of the year, Blue had to stay with Nathalie's family and MacMillan promised to bring him to them.

"She is his handler and owner. They are a team and won't be separated during service." Said MacMillan and petted Blue who seemed to sympathise him. Since the beginning they knew and saw each other daily. It seemed that he still remembered his days as a puppy and how many treats he secretly received from General.

"How are you going to explain the fact that you already replaced her? Her and Simons." Asked General knowing that he had to pull the strings if he wants her back at Hereford. He promised to take care of her, to not let go on another suicide mission. "Are you planning to put her in charge of newbies and tell her to train them from scratch?"

"As if you have anything better to offer. It's just a temporary position." Said Watson clearly irritated. She was too good to be given away. The way Nathalie solved this issue, freed Smith and then the rest of the team, made her more valuable than anyone. Who could possibly escape from Makarov? And MacMillan sent her to him in the first place.

"I actually do. Bravo Six that is on mission with your team is in desperate need for a leader. I'd say she is perfect for the position." He explained. MacMillan had a feeling that Watson didn't know that the mission was a set up by someone else but he didn't want to let him have Nathalie. She was too good to give away in the first place. General thought that in Colchester she would have had better opportunities for better missions and not the dirty work of following tracks that lead nowhere.

"I can't give her up. Not with the set of skill she has." Denied MacMillans request Colonel.

"You can and you will." Said MacMillan getting quite irritated with stubbornness of his colleague. Before he could protest again someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

"They are already at the place, sir." Said a young soldier who just opened the door and peeked in. "They are waiting for your orders."

MacMillan without hesitation stood up and nodded to Colonel. He walked after General outside the office and down the hallway to the communication centre. Both of the men put in earpieces and looked at the big screen at the end of a big room where the feed from one of the soldier's helmets was broadcasting. General walked closer to the soldiers by the computers and began talking to the soldiers at the field.

"Bravo Six this is Baseplate. What's your status?"

"We secured the perimeter. There were no enemies so far. Permission to enter the building?" Said the man that led the team. Man that replaced Silver.

Sgt. Burns who had the camera on the helmet turned to face the building. It looked like an old summer cottage with bright khaki coloured wooden walls and dark brown roof. The surrounding area was deserted just like the house itself. You could see a thick layer of dust on the windows and old paint cracking off of the wooden planks. House wasn't small, two storeys, a basement and an attic. It seemed like no one had been there for years.

"You have a permission to enter." Said Mac and waited for them to move up.

There were two entrances and their leader ordered to split up into two groups and search through the whole house. They didn't have to look far for Nathalie. Just as they entered the house through the main door they saw her body in the living room to the right from the entrance. Burns walked closer so that everyone at the base could see her unconscious and cold body. She was pale and thin, her clothes stained with dark red blood. Right hand was in a cast and left arm was wrapped up in a bandage way up to the shoulder that was soaked in blood. Nathalie had only a thin tshirt and cargo pants on and to keep her warm she have had a blanket on her that she seemingly pushed off. Several spots on her visible skin were dark purple, blue, and yellow, awfully swollen. It was unknown how many more there were under her clothes.

"The blood pressure is stable, though low." Said Heywood holding her wrist in his hands. She didn't flinch at the movement around her or at the touch. "We need to get her out of here."

"Did you find anything around here?" Asked their new leader looking at Silver from the distance.

"It's clear." Said Smith.

"Baseplate this is Bravo Six. Request an immediate evac to hospital."

"Request accepted." Said MacMillan shocked at what he saw on the screen. It was far worse than he expected. Nevertheless he immediately started commanding his men around the room. "Quickly send the helicopter back to pick them up and call the nearest hospital to tell them to get ready for a critical situation."

* * *

Nathalie awoke barely able to feel her body. Everything seemed so numb and far far away from her mind. Despite being awake and with her eyes open she felt like she was in a different dimension somewhere far away from reality. Where she couldn't feel pain or shame, but Nathalie quickly realised that it was just an illusion created by the drugs that were pumped into her system. There were all sorts of tubes and wires on her skin which she felt moving her hands. She was too weak to move anymore and so she looked around the room she was in. It had brightly painted ceiling and walls but it was shadowy since the only source of light was a window to the hallway. To her left was a screen on which her vital signs were monitored. Nathalie could hear footsteps and chatter outside the ward but she couldn't understand the language people were talking in.

Silver felt lost feeling the unknown around her. She was unsure where she was, what time or day it was, or what happened to her. Nathalie had so many questions that needed answers, and she had so many answers to the questions anyone could have asked her. She was ready to challenge anyone into a battle answer for answer though soon she find out that she was safe. A young and perspective doctor walked in for a check-up he did every few hours. He explained that she had been unconscious for almost two weeks making that in total four weeks without eating which combined with blood loss from her cutting up her arm caused anaemia.

Nathalie had a clear image in her head of the moment she got a chance to at least try to escape the life she had. While she was still there at the psychiatric hospital that Makarov used she was always with at least one guard watching that nothing happened. It was either a guard or Roman who felt guilty for what happened and she got a chance to be alone when they were changing their places. Nathalie broke the window and with shattered pieces of glass she left deep cuts all over her skin. In shock and panic she didn't hit any arteries and only the last moment realised that cutting her throat was the best option. Unfortunately Roman already walked in and tried to stop her, she was a lot weaker and couldn't fight him off but she managed to leave quite a few nasty marks on his body.

Overall her body condition was horrible and almost unfixable. Doctor explained that her muscles and body mass were slowly decaying because of malnutrition, the blood loss put her body in even worse shock since it had no way to regenerate the blood on its own, that was the reason her new and old wounds weren't healing. If she had stayed in such poor condition for any longer they wouldn't have brought her back to life. To normal and healthy life. Nathalie had an IV attached to her arm where her skin wasn't destroyed with shattered glass and had minerals flowing into her blood with the water.

The only thing that troubled the young doctor was her mental state which wasn't in his field. He decided to have a psychiatrist come over and help her through the recovery. She didn't have a right to deny the meetings since they were essential if she ever wanted to go back to military career. Without proper medical attention and evaluation she wouldn't have the right to enter a military base. She knew what was waiting for her and had a feeling that a she wouldn't get away faking being all right. Nathalie knew that she had to live through it all once again, remember every detail, and tell it to the doctor writing it all down. That brought tears to her eyes. She didn't want to think, she didn't want to remember.

"Don't worry; you will be healthy just like before." Assured her the doctor.

"I'll never be like before. Life will never be the same after all that."


	11. Chapter 10

It was two longest months in Nathalie's life. Recovery wasn't going too smooth, over the time her health got better and worse but in the end her wounds healed and she was ready to go work out to build up her strength and stamina. Even while she was still in the hospital Nathalie did some exercise despite the doctor and nurses telling her not to push herself too far. Silver was determined to get her revenge on Makarov and anyone who sided with him. She wanted to live up to the name Karma, give those who hurt her same. That was one of the issues that troubled and made her visit in hospital longer. Psychiatrist didn't let her leave with symptoms of depression and boiling rage for the revenge, especially when he didn't know what was the reason behind them. Endless times they had séances their chat would end up with Nathalie bursting out in anger and frustration. She didn't have any intentions of telling an unfamiliar man all that she lived through. And even though she was finally healthy to leave the hospital she wasn't allowed to.

There was supposed to be another meeting and Nathalie waited for a nurse to tell her to go to doctor's appointment but even after three hours she didn't show up. Silver was stubborn and had her principles, she didn't go and ask why or when she had to meet the doctor, she couldn't care less about it. The only thought going round through her mind was how she could get out of there as soon as possible.

Another half an hour later, it was a late afternoon, a nurse walked in the room carrying a backpack. She put it on the end of the bed next to Nathalie's bare feet. She seemed interested in what nurse have brought her since for the two months she wore hospital's pyjamas.

"It's your lucky day. You're finally being released." Said the nurse and smiled to the female soldier. She was older than Nathalie and a little taller, with darker skin tone. Her blonde hair was put in a tight bun that Nathalie also had to wear during her service. The smiling wrinkles around her eyes were present but other than that she had no other marks of age. Nathalie took a liking to the nurse because she would always share her knowledge. It was a good practice for Silver to remember some things she had learned over the studies and years of her life.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to leave until I get the doctor's approval. What made him change his mind?" Wondered Nathalie while looking at the clothes that the nurse was taking out of the backpack. They were her old clothes that she left at Colchester when going on a mission. Nathalie smiled thinking of getting in her own clothes after spending all the time in those uncomfortable pyjamas.

"I don't know for a fact but I've heard the man that came to pick you up had a long chat with the doctor." Nurse shared her rumours with Nathalie. "I think he convinced him in some way... Maybe bribed. Who knows?"

"Well, that's interesting." Mumbled Nathalie picking clothes to wear. She was frightened by the thought of a man coming to pick her up. He could have been anyone, from Tyler to Makarov, and either way the meetings wouldn't be too pleasant. "Did you see him? Can you tell me anything about him?"

Nurse shook her head and laughed. "The sooner you go to the shower the sooner you will see him." She waved to Nathalie and walked outside leaving her to get ready for a meeting with her saviour.

Silver jumped off the bed and rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower before she got her freedom back. It was a dream come true, something she wanted more than anything since she left the base at Colchester. After the quick shower Nathalie dressed up in the clothes she picked out and braided her dry and splitting hair. She desperately needed a hair makeover and not just because of their condition but also because it was one of the few things she had in common with her father. The dark brown colour, very close to black was just like Vladimir's. The other thing that they had in common was eye colour but there was no way to change it.

When she was done inspecting her looks in the mirror Silver walked back to her ward and took out the pair of sneakers and put them on. She packed the rest of the clothes and things she had brought to her by the nurses, like newspapers and journals. Nathalie put on the bag on her shoulder and left the room behind. Walking down the hallways she rolled up the sleeves of her yellow sweatshirt that she matched with black skinny jeans. When she reached the reception the same nurse greeted her with a smile. She reached out some documents and said "Just sign here".

Nathalie signed the forms and waved to the nurses goodbye. She walked to the exit confidently even though she felt unsure how the situation will roll out. Leaving the hospital and taking a few steps to the ground Nathalie was attacked by the dog leaping right at her. She barely managed to catch him and put him down without falling herself. The beast started whining, jumping, and frantically running around her unsure what to do with his feelings.

"Hey there, buddy." Nathalie said to the dog that couldn't contain himself. She crouched and put her arms on his sides pulling him closer making him calmer and easier to interact. Soon he was in her arms happily licking her face. "Hey, my little Blue." She whispered to him gently rubbing his belly. Enjoying the first meeting with her dog Nathalie didn't notice how the man that brought him there got closer to her.

"Silver." She heard him say and immediately looked up to see who he was. Nathalie wasn't surprised to see a familiar face; it would be far more surprising if someone she didn't know would come to get her out of hospital and also having Blue with him.

"General." She greeted him and let go of her dog. Nathalie quickly stood up afraid she said it too casually and wanted to apologise but MacMillan interrupted her. "Please, you're not at the service. Call me Mac."

"Just like that? Mac?" Asked Nathalie a little scared to actually do it. He was her superior and by the rank he was higher than she could ever achieve. General simply asked his Lieutenant to call him Mac. It was too mind tumbling for Nathalie when it seemed very simple and completely understandable why he asked her to do so.

"Just like that." Repeated MacMillan with his arms crossed on his chest. He was waiting for the moment Blue saw Nathalie knowing that it would be interesting to watch them meet. He was still smiling from seeing the two so happy and gently put his hand on Nathalie's shoulder. "Why don't we go somewhere nicer? We have a lot of talking to do."

"Yeah, alright." She said and Mac led her to his car parked further away from the hospital. Blue walked right at her side just like she trained him with his leash dragging on the ground. Nathalie pulled it from the ground and carried it in her hand even though she didn't need that to keep him there beside her. They went to MacMillan's car and after a while of driving they stopped by a small cafe. Nathalie gave him a questioning look and he just waved his hand for her to get out. She took Blue with her and they walked to the table outside the cafe.

"What would you like?" Asked MacMillan.

"Black tea, please." She said and sat down with her pit sitting right beside her. A couple of minutes later her superior came back carrying two cups. He sat down and put her cup in front of her. Nathalie leaned on the table and pulled the cup closer feeling a little awkward.

"I managed to make a deal with the doctor to release you with one condition that you will talk with me." Began MacMillan looking at Nathalie who was avoiding eye contact. He didn't want to be straightforward and push her to where she doesn't want to go like the doctor did. "Whenever you feel ready you can tell me why you got so obsessed with revenge."

Nathalie lifted her eyes from the cup to take a quick glance at MacMillan but then again she lowered her gaze. She couldn't think of a soft and careful way to approach the topic. Spilling it out wasn't good since he could've understood it wrong but going too much into detail wouldn't be too pleasant for her.

"If you don't feel ready, we can skip it today. I will drive you back home and you will be allowed to visit me at Hereford when you feel so." Explained Mac and began drinking his coffee. Whether she wanted to share or not she wasn't ready to go back to the training and military life and there was no need to ask her for too much. She had enough time to get her thoughts straight.

"It's a really tricky situation. I don't know what turn my life will take when you find out everything." Mumbled Nathalie feeling her mouth getting drier. She took a sip of her tea and noticed that her hands were shaking when she picked up the cup. Her heart rate sped up but she decided it was time to come clean.

 _I guess I will go to the very beginning of my story. You already know that I started my military career in Russia and got transferred here after I chose one of the two nationalities I had but all that was before is secret. No one, not even MacTavish know it all to the fullest detail. I'm afraid that it will not end well if anyone knows it all; it ends badly even when people find out a few details of my life. Anyway not to beat around the bush I guess I should start with what I really have to say._

 _As you might have heard my mother was a British soldier just like I am now, and she was sent to a mission to Russia, just like me. Her team was captured; she fell in love with one of those men that held them captive. Eventually when they were free she chose to stay with him, she let her team go back home and she stayed there. Year 1990 they brought me to this cruel world which at first did not seem so bad. I had two loving parents that cared about my well-being, I was always well dressed, well fed, and had plenty of toys. I have spent endless hours playing with them._

 _It was all until my mother died. She left me with two nationalities and a Russian version of her last name Serebrova because they weren't married and that was the only thing that saved me after all those years. Those years of pain and torture I suffered being raised with the terrorists. My god damned mother left me there to be raised as a killer, a murderer. And that's because I didn't know that different life existed. Like any other kid that was born to those ultranationalists I was raised to believe I was doing the right thing, I believed it was okay to do what I did. It was until the point that I couldn't keep going anymore, I broke down when I realised that it wasn't right at all. I was killing innocent people, those who didn't know how to protect themselves._

 _I couldn't do it anymore, everything that I was taught was wrong... The skills that I have, the insane killing machine I am is all because terrorists taught me. I, of course, tried to escape that hell I was brought into. I have tried many times but I was pulled back over and over again. My father manipulated me back into it until I decided I had to end it... by ending myself. I tried to kill myself a couple of times that were all unsuccessful because he would always bring me back, there is no doctor that wouldn't save a life, especially when my father held a pistol right at the back of their heads. When I had enough of that bullshit I found men that opposed ultranationalists, the so called loyalists. They helped me find a man that I would want to call my father more than anything, he saved me when I was a teenager, helped me get an education, supported me when I decided to be a soldier, and only because of his hard work I ended up being here in UK._

 _Now even when I am already here my father tries to bring me back to him. Force me to do his dirty work, kill innocents, sell people to slavery, sell drugs and weapons. I don't want that anymore, I didn't want it years ago, but as always he finds a way. Taking my team as hostages and threatening to kill them after he tortures them for endless hours. I know that well enough, I did it all myself, I have felt it all on my own body. I even know all those stupid tricks that help avoid bruises or any sorts of markings on skin._

 _It's one big hell. Sometimes he knows how to show his fatherly love but then again it is all just because he needs something from me. It was never honest and for all that he did to me I wanted to take my revenge. Unsuccessfully of course, it cost me a lot to try and kill him. In the end I suffered the most, which is not surprising. But this time it was... it was. It was something I wanted to protect my teammate Smith from. Those men don't care what they are doing as long as they are having fun themselves._

 _All that happened was his fault and he has to pay for it all. I cannot leave him to continue his world destruction plans. He has to die. I need the government to allow me to assassinate him. I don't care if they are afraid to start another world war by sending a secret assassination mission but if they don't he will be the one to start the god damn war. It will take him time to recover with the wounds I left him but he will do it. I am not obsessed with revenge; I am determined to do justice._

Nathalie looked away with tears in her eyes. It wasn't an easy thing for her. Her life was filled with suffering and sharing it all with someone else. MacMillan took a napkin out of his pocket and offered it to her. Silver took it and wiped off her tears. Feeling nervous and weak she finished the whole cup of tea waiting for General's response.

"So Makarov is your father?" Asked MacMillan concerned. He let out a deep breath thinking of the situation they were in at that moment. It was difficult to believe her words but it all somehow made sense.

Nathalie nodded still looking away. Whatever General decided to do about her and relationship with Makarov could change her life completely. It wasn't like she didn't care at all about her future but she simply saw it very sad and pessimistic, gloomy.

It took MacMillan a couple of minutes to process it all. "It's a strange situation you got yourself into..." he said trying to approach her carefully. She suffered enough throughout her life, the story she told barely had any light moments. What disturbed the most was the last thing that happened. MacMillan didn't dare to ask her directly if he understood it right and kept the discussion very calm and short. "I want you to stay home for a while now. I hope you don't mind that I won't bring you back to Hereford immediately."

"Hereford?" She asked as she finally began feeling calmer. General wasn't going to kick her out or declare that she wasn't trustworthy. Nathalie looked up to him with still wet eyes and rubbed them trying to stop self from crying.

"I made a deal with Colonel and I got you back to Hereford. Decided it will be the best way to make sure you don't slip into Makarov's hands. I can't afford getting one of greatest soldiers with such set of skills get killed or worse." Explained Mac looking at Nathalie who was sitting in front of him staring at him shocked. She seemed stressed but also somewhat relieved. It sure was a relief for her to know that she will be safe and back in service. "I want you to stay at home for a month or two. Try to exercise more to go back in the shape and we will settle everything else when you're back."

Nathalie nodded looking at her superior with a slight smile shining in her face. Those were some good news for her. "Can I change how I look?"

"You want to change your looks? Why?"

"To make sure I have no resemblance to him. I have been thinking about it for a long time now." Said Nathalie and looked at her hair that weren't in the best condition. Overall her looks suffered quite a bit: her skin was dry, nails were chipped, and hair felt like a bunch of straws.

"Well I guess it won't hurt to let you change a little bit." Smiled Mac and noticed how much she matured over those few years he didn't see her. Not only had her appearance changed but her personality too. Nathalie looked worthy of the rank she was given before and even more than that. They sat there for a little bit longer having a nice chat until MacMillan finished his coffee. Afterwards he drove her back to her home in London and left her there to settle down.

* * *

Nathalie stood in front of a mirror extremely excited unable to contain her joy. It was the time for her to change her appearance and in a way to begging her life again completely clean from the past. Just in a few days she was supposed to go back to Hereford and she was completely ready knowing that Makarov had no place in her life and heart anymore, if a year ago she didn't dare to think of killing him since he was her father, then she knew that she was ready to cut his throat at any given moment. Just for that she decided to get her a couple of new knives to begin a new collection. One, a butterfly knife, was just for fun, playing around and tricks and two, real combat bayonets, were the ones that had to do the job.

Nathalie took bayonet with black blade and lifted up to her neck slowly rotating it in her palm looking at the sharp edge in the reflection. One slip of her hand could end her life but it wasn't a moment for that. Silver took a few strains of hair and dragged the blade through them. And again. And again. It all lasted a couple minutes until all of her hair that used to be right at her lower back barely reached her shoulders. Parting her hair on the side she used the knife to cut the hair on the side even shorter. She finished the job with the machine to have a clean shaven side that looked like half-done death hawk. Nathalie giggled at the thought of looking like MacTavish. For a minute there she stood there wondering if he would ever forgive her for what she has done. When she felt sadness slowly creeping onto her she shook her head and began the difficult part of her change - bleaching her hair. It took her a while but she managed to deal with the dye without damaging her hair more than it was damaged before.

There she was, the new Nathalie ready to take anything life was going to throw at her. The marks of past were healing nicely and she knew that all of the pain that she went through only made her stronger and it was no time to give up. Some of the wounds left more of a mental distress than the actual scars and Nathalie was ready to fight her fears.


	12. Chapter 11

First month in Hereford was stressful for Nathalie. There was a lot of work and training that she put a lot of effort in. Many sleepless nights and sore muscles, bruises and scrapes, but despite all pain she was getting back at it. MacMillan wanted to put her in leaders position but she denied all of his requests leaving Sgt. Wallcroft in the lead. She was still affiliated with Bravo Six and continously trained with them.

"Once again. And don't go easy on me." Said Silver and prepared to block Marcus attacks. They were doing some hand to hand combat training to strengthen her and fasten the reaction. At first he was hesitant to fight Nathalie but seeing her determination he continued to push further and hit harder. After many countless punches and kicks she blocked one slipped past her defence and hit her lower abdomen. That was all Burns needed to send her flying to the ground. Nathalie sat down with her legs straightened in front of her. She sighed and tried to rest for a moment. "Five minute break and then we will continue."

"Maybe we should stop. It's been almost two hours." Offered Sergeant extending his arm to Nathalie. She grabbed it and he pulled her up. Seeing Silver's disagreement he simply brushed off dust of his clothes and stated "I am tired of using you as my punching bag, find someone else to beat you up."

Burns walked away shaking his head and Nathalie smiled at his reaction. "Cheeky." She said and gathered up her things that were set aside. Silver took a few gulps from the water bottle and walked off towards the firing range. Even if Burns got tired of training with her she wasn't ready to stop. Her goal was to keep going until she was unable to do anything or well until the end of the day. Everyone on the base got used to her presence at the training grounds at all times since she barely left them. That day she decided to improve her marksmanship and took a sniper rifle to the biggest field they had. Targets varied from medium to very long range and Nathalie had to take them out from standing, crouching, sitting, and prone positions. It was a sniper's job to stay still for many hours and patience wasn't really her thing though but through hard work managed to be more tranquil. As her working day was coming to the end Griffin came to training grounds to meet her. It looked like he had some kind of news for her.

"What's up?" She asked him returning her rifle to the armoury. It was a long day and all Nathalie wanted was a hot shower and a cold beer but whenever someone came to find her she had to postpone all her plans. Usually there wasn't much of work for her because she wasn't officially in the team but even then Nathalie tried to help them out in all ways possible.

"We're getting a new teammate since you are not an official." Said Griffin and walked out of the training grounds with Silver next to him. He noticed her sour expression and chuckled knowing that she didn't like new people. It took her a while to get used to everyone in Bravo Six, at first she kept her distance and avoided any conctact possible. "From what I saw when he was going to MacMillans office he seems like a good guy. Quite young but already a Sergeant, probably hard working fellow."

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you." Said Nathalie with clear sarcasm in her voice. That's exacly what she needed in her life, another baby to look after. By all means she tried to avoid getting a leaders position and she hoped that Bravo Six would get someone higher rank than her but once again there is a young lower rank soldier who she will most definitely hate.

"You are so excited it feels like I have a sunshine walking beside me." Said Griffin and laughed. They were still walking in an unknown direction just away from training grounds. "Anyway, we are making sure he is familiar with the new place and you can come with us to give a warm welcome."

"Not even in hundred years." Said Nathalie and stopped in her tracks making Griffin stop and turn around. "I will go about my own things and you keep him away from me for like next year?"

"Alright, I'll tell him that you are an awful person and that he should avoid you by all means." Said Griffin and began walking backwards which made Nathalie move out of her place to catch up with him. "Nevertheless, you will still have to work and train eventually and I'm pretty sure you will get used to the new presence."

"Yes, eventually, but definitely not today." Said Nathalie and shook her head at the thought of meeting another man. Her situation wasn't too pleasant with 99 percent of the base being male soldiers while she still suffered from the symptoms of ptsd. With a lot of courage and determination to reach her goal she acclimated to the surrounding men just didn't get too personal with them. And since the new guy was technically her teammate she had to know more than his rank and get a little more personal with him.

"Alright, in case you change your mind you can always find us while we show our fng around." He laughed and high fived Nathalie before he jogged off.

Nathalie smiled and turned towards the barracks where Blue was laying around having his day off. Since Silver always combined her training with his every now and then he got some days just to chill around the base because she didn't want to push him as much as she was pushing herself. He didn't spend that much time being tortured and dying like her. Even after longest and most tiresome days Blue would get scratches, cuddles, and all the affection he deserved.

"Hey boy." She greeted him and received a playful bark in return. He remained in his place since Nathalie didn't call him so she just went on to the barracks. She took a quick visit to her room which she always kept locked for clean clothes she would change into after her long awaited shower. Because of the issue with men Nathalie tried avoiding using showers in the busiest hours of the day even when it finally had a separate block only women could use. Of course it was in the same building and that meant that any man could just walk straight in and stare at her which scared her the most but that never happened.

After the shower Silver walked back to the barracks, called Blue to come with her, and stepped into their common room. It was made all thanks to her since she wanted a place where only her teammates could gather and have their things. Usually they put all sorts of snacks they brought from home and stole from the mess hall and that was the reason why she went there. Nathalie took a quick glance around the room and noticed some of the soldiers at the table chatting with the fng having a couple of beers. She walked past them without saying a word and started searching through the cupboards for anything tasty.

"Isn't it a little too much for you alone?" Asked Marcus when she took five packs of crisps and a pack of gummy bears. Silver turned around to look at Sergeant. She smiled and flipped him off then casually fixing her still wet hair walked out of the room.

"Wow." Was the only thing Sanderson managed to breathe out at her presence.

"What is her problem?" Mumbled Burns and chugged from his bottle.

"Doesn't like the new guy." Said Griffin. "But don't worry, Gary, you will get along eventually. Maybe in two or three months."

"I'm afraid at this pace I won't be able to even participate in the selection." Said Gary and looked at the door thinking of Silver. The only word he could use to describe her would be fierce. Her body seemed very damaged but strong and the way she moved it looked like she could crush someone's skull any moment. He knew she was something more than any other soldier but he definitely didn't expect what he saw. She wasn't the same person he saw in the pictures and all the rumours other soldiers told him were just the tip of an iceberg. Nathalie's presence intimidated him more than any other superior shouting at him for being lazy.

"So, Sanderson, you mentioned something on why you wanted to be here with Bravo Six. What kind of selections you were talking about?" Asked Burns.

"Oh, I just passed selection to be part of this team and at the end of the year or maybe at the end of winter there will be another selection for the task force 141. I'm pretty sure if I keep training I have all of the chances of getting in but Lieutenant Silver is my ticket to success. If she helps me I am sure to be prepared for anything TF can throw at me." Explained the newest addition to Bravo Six.

"You got yourself in some deep shit, man."

...

"You've been avoiding the guy for a month, Silver." MacMillan's voice sounded a little irritated instead of angry that Nathalie expected to hear. "You didn't even introduce yourself. Is that how you are going to treat every new person in your life? We are working to get you through the events of past and make you stronger, avoiding problems won't make you any stronger."

"Any conversation I have with an unknown person throws me off. I am not ready to do so, sir." Said Nathalie comfortably sitting in one of the chairs in front of General's desk. It was covered with all sorts of papers and had an ashtray where still smoking cigar was set at.

"And the kid is not ready to be part of TF141 but he is aiming for selection anyway." Said General clearly confusing Silver with his words. She didn't quite catch what she had to do with any of that, the new guy and the task force. MacMillan noticed that and explained whole situation to the Lieutenant. "Sergeant Sanderson wants to participate in selection that is about to happen and he has great chances of meeting the requirements. He really adores you and would appreciate if you could help him with training."

"With all my respect I am not going to be his nanny." Said Silver and sat up in her chair to seem more determined to stand her ground.

"You will. He can pass the selection but definitely won't survive the real deal that the men go through on those missions. You have experience and you can share it so he can survive longer in the mess he is getting himself into. Before you even ask, selection is voluntary and I cannot stop him from participation." Said General firmly and grabbed his cigar. He seemed to enjoy them and Nathalie finally realised that love for cigars didn't just appear from nowhere. MavTavish mentioned that the cigars he smoke were the ones that his superior liked the most and that superior was under command of the General a decade or two ago. She looked at the smoke slowly rise up from the cigar thinking of the situation she was in.

"When is the selection?" Silver asked a little annoyed but didn't dare to object any more.

"Might be by the end of the year might be later, nothing official yet."

"It's almost November and you are asking me to prepare him for all that hell in two months? Madness." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'll do it."

General nodded at her and Nathalie rose from the chair mumbling something under her breath. She left his office a little furious and of course decided that the young Sergeant should know what he got himself into. Nathalie was ready to destroy any hope he had to join task force and it was all just for his best even if he wouldn't agree with that. She walked to the training grounds where Bravo Six gathered for their training. Silver grabbed Sanderson by his sweatshirt collar and dragged him with her.

"Listen here, there are three rules of training with me. First, no touching unless it has anything to do with training. Second, you do everything I say, no objections. And third, no complaining. If I hear you complain you are on your own." She said and when they were further away from the team stopped to look at him. He was still a little dazed and surprised from what was happening. Taking that as an advantage Nathalie straight up punched him in the face, and then his abdomen, chest and everywhere she could hit him. "For every attack that you can't block you will have to do 25 push ups. So far you have a hundred." She said and continued attacking him.

Sanderson was in complete shock at first but quickly caught up with what was happening and began blocking every punch she threw at him. Seeing that he wasn't too easy to mess up Nathalie began using her legs and after a nice kick she sent him flying back. She casually fixed her sweatshirt looking at him regain his posture. "125 push ups. You can get right to it." Said Silver and crossed her arms on her chest.

Not daring to object Gary dropped down to the ground and began his task. He has never done as many push ups in one go, of course in total over the training of one day it would be around two or three hundred. He looked down at the ground trying to avoid her gaze because it really looked like she could kill him simply by looking at him. Though he couldn't say that her eyes weren't pretty, it was the first time that he saw them up close and only caught a small glimpse because she started attacking him but he immediately fell in love with them.

"Can't you go faster, we don't have time for you to be lazy." She said standing still.

"Aren't you a little too harsh?" Said Marcus walking closer to them. He had a smirk on his face and was ready to annoy Silver. "You beat him up, tell him it's his fault, and then proceed to torture."

She turned to him and just stared for a second. Nathalie had no interest in fighting with him but he was definitely trying to make her do that. When she had to train for herself his sly comments seemed somewhat appropriate but she had to train someone else and any criticism wasn't taken well. "Oh, it seems you believe you are a better teacher? Or maybe you want to join this and get your ass kicked?"

"We already trained together and I know you couldn't do it. Too weak." Mocked Burns and took a step back seeing how Silver changed. But seconds later she sighed and turned away and left Marcus surprised. That wasn't the reaction he expected from Nathalie who was calmly standind and watching her trainee. "You're not going to say anything back?"

"Why would I? I don't have time for nonsense. My objective here is to train this little shit and I will concentrate on that." She answered and completely ignored everything else that Marcus had to say.

"Are you done?" Asked Nathalie looking at her trainee. Gary got off the ground and nodded still scared of her presence. She took a step forward and put her arms up to her face prepared for another fight. "This time you have to attack me. If you hit me at least once we each of us have to do 50 sit ups and if I block all of your hits you do 100 all alone."

At first what she was asking to do seemed crazy to him but he wanted to be trained by her. He got ready and tried to attack her. Nathalie didn't seem impressed by his attempts easily evading every attack. Cassually taking steps back and sideways she threw him off and made him frustrated since he looked like an ass also with Burns watching him. Gary's punches became faster but less acurate and tired of dealing with it Silver grabbed his arm and threw him over her side to the ground.

"100 sit ups. Get right to it." She said and took a step back from him. It was quite a workout for her too even if he wasn't trying hard enough. Nathalie didn't feel like she was in any condition to take a much physical activity that was needed to train him and knew that she was supposed to do everything to get stronger.


	13. Chapter 12

Nathalie stood by the barracks watching her breath move in cold air. It was the beginning of the December and it was getting quite chilly during the time of her morning run. Sanderson clearly didn't appreciate that he had to get up at 5am and run in cold weather. Her morning runs would usually take two hours with a couple of breaks but the colder weather would always make it worse. She turned to look at him breathing a lot heavier than her and felt a little concerned since he never seemed too tired even after a long day of training. Nathalie didn't feel quite comfortable around him still but when she heard him try to suppress a cough she walked closer to him.

"What in the hell is that?" She asked him putting her hand on his shoulder trying to keep him looking at her. Silver noticed he was avoiding eye contact and so she put her other hand on his forehead which seemed burning. "Sanderson, what in the hell are you thinking?!"

"I need to train for selection." He mumbled trying to pull away from his superior.

"You need to survive until the selection." She said and after his another attempt to free him from her grasp Nathalie lost it. "Sergeant Gary Sanderson, are you out of your mind? You're going straight to the medics. That's an order."

Sanderson finally looked at her and wanted to protest but he knew that one way or another Nathalie would have dragged him there. He nodded and without saying a word walked off in the direction of the medical facility on their base. Silver followed him a few steps behind with her heart racing, she couldn't believe she actually walked up and touched him. It was the first time she touched anyone in a way that had nothing to do with training and it scared her. It wasn't an intimate touch or anything like that and she didn't become afraid. It seemed natural and didn't trigger anxiety or panic which was strange after almost half a year without such contact with another person.

When they reached the 'hospital' one of the medics greeted them with a smile. It seemed that he already knew for what reason they came there. He laughed and said "Such an early visit, I hoped you'd hold out longer, Sanderson."

"Did you let him train in such condition?" Asked Silver and pushed Gary to sit down in the chair by the desk medic was sitting at.

"No, I gave him the medicine and recommended to stay in the barracks for a couple of days. He disagreed and decided to hide it from you very, very unsuccessfully." Laughed medic and looked at Sanderson who was still trying to pretend he was fine. He took a deep breath and stood up from his desk thinking about the medicine that was needed for the Sergeant. Medic walked to the shelf behind him and after a minute picked up a small bottle with pills. He returned to the desk and gave the bottle to Sanderson also giving the instructions. "Take one every six hours. If you don't feel any better in two days come back and I'll see what else I can do to help."

Nathalie nodded at Sanderson and he took one pill immediately. It looked like she was really irritated and he could really understand why but he hoped he could slip past. It was very reckless of him to try and push himself that far. It might have been only a small cold but without proper care it could evolve to something like pneumonia which would immediately cross him out of selection.

"I'm sorry." He said and looked at Nathalie hoping she wouldn't be too mad at him. He noticed that she was more worried than angry and felt a little relieved. "I really want to get ready for the real deal in the battlefield. I don't have any time to waste."

Silver sighed looking at him and waved her hand showing that he should follow him. Sanderson jumped up from his seat and was ready to do whatever she told him to. Before leaving Nathalie thanked the medic for his time. Gary seemed excited that he didn't have to sit out training even when he was sick but they walked towards the barracks which seemed strange to him. They walked into the common room and Nathalie got straight to the cupboards to take some sweets.

"Take off your shoes and get on the table." She said and took two bags of delicious candy. Silver walked closer to the table and pulled out one chair. She sat down and opened one of the bags watching confused sergeant stand on top of the table. "Squat. Hands straight forward."

"May I ask what training is this?" Sanderson wondered complying to her commands.

"We trained your strength, stamina, and reaction and now it's time for your balance and patience." She explained and squeezed one of the wrappers into a ball. Nathalie smiled and threw it at the younger soldier hitting him in the face. "You can't move out of your place no matter what for next ten minutes."

"That's awful lot of time to stay in one place. I know snipers stay still way longer but they are stationary and I am in the most uncomfortable position." Complained Gary and immediately realised that it was a wrong decision. He received another bunch of wrappers flying straight at him while Nathalie explained the logic behind it. "You have to be concentrated and combat ready at any time. Imagine that you are in the desert and there's wind blowing sand right in your face. Your life depends on your ability to get over it and do your job."

"Got it, patience and balance. I have to tolerate every climate, every uncomfortable position, and concentrate on my mission." Said Sanderson and Nathalie nodded.

"I'll admit that personal reasons got in my way plenty of times before I learned how to make my job as a priority despite emotions and wounds pulling me back. Hopefully you will learn not to do so before any painful consequences." Silver finished one bag of sweets slowly realising that she opened up to almost complete stranger to her. She didn't feel safe sharing any of her feelings with basically anyone and there she was talking about her regrets. It wasn't in a completely open and straightforward way but it was a big step for her. Nathalie noticed that Sanderson was staring at her a little sad and confused clearly wanting to ask something. "Go for it."

"Is that why you are so distant with everyone? Something happened because you took priority in personal matters? I know it's not my business but I feel like..."

"You can say that." Nathalie cut him off before he could continue talking. Sometimes you could hardly shut him up especially when they gathered to relax after long day. Despite his excited and vocal nature Silver managed to tone down his chatter during training. Though the more time they spent together and the more used to her he got the harder it was to shut him up.

"You're not going to share that with me, right?" He asked trying to keep his balance. It was getting a little tiring to keep the same position without moving especially with all those candy wrappers flying at him. "That was a stupid question."

"Indeed." She said looking at her trainee slowly losing balance and having hard time keeping himself in place. It was especially difficult to stay there when coughing. Just seconds later Sanderson met the ground slowly giving up and admitting to himself that he is in no condition to train.

"Now you see why I got so angry?" Asked Nathalie and threw an unopened pack of sweets to him.

"Yes. I should push my limits only when I am in condition to. It feels like my lungs are trying to escape my chest." Said Gary and sat up on the ground holding the sweets. It looked like Nathalie was more tolerant towards him and his presence than at the beginning. She seemed less tense and kept some casual chats once in a while. Being with her visibly changed him in a better way and did the same to her.

"If you want you can train like this for a little bit longer but just take your time to rest." She said and got of the chair pushing it up to the table afterwards. Silver smiled to the youngster and walked outside leaving him wondering what has gotten into her. It was first time she smiled at him and probably first time she was aggressively helpful kicking some sense into him. Sanderson ate a couple of sweets smiling to himself like a child.

Meanwhile Silver was walking outside with Blue following closely. Just because Sanderson was unable to train with her didn't mean she was going to skip it. It was quite the time for some time with Blue since almost all of it was spent training with Gary. Also, she kept reminding herself every day that if she won't get strong enough to kill Makarov there was a chance no one else would.

While walking towards the training grounds another soldier stopped her and told her to go see MacMillan after her training. Visits at Generals office became more frequent after she agreed to train with the young Sergeant. Of course Nathalie understood that her superior was worried about her well-being. He didn't want to push her limits too far but it seemed like it wasn't much trouble for her after all and the new face just brought good things to her. Her mood was a lot lighter and Nathalie found herself smiling more frequently. Although events of last summer still haunted her every time she tried to relax and loosen her mind from the daily troubles.

The beginning of the training was just a regular understanding between her and Blue: basic commands, close following of her signs and body language. He followed her each movement stopping and laying down every time she crouched and rising when she began moving again. When they were done with the basics they went for the obstacle course which they had to go through together. It wasn't anything too difficult since they have done it countless of times but practice was still worth it. It was better than doing nothing all day letting bad thoughts and terrible memories dawn on her mind.

Around the lunch time Nathalie decided to take the little break and go to see why MacMillan called her to his office. She left Blue sitting by the building while she entered it and walked down the hallway towards the General's office. Silver gently knocked on the door and waited for response and when he told her to wait a minute she let out a sigh. Usually it didn't take much time for General to free up but that time it was taking quite a while. Ten minutes turned into twenty and Nathalie got a little restless waiting for who knows what. Just when she was about to knock again doors opened and a few soldiers walked out of the office. Nathalie blinked a couple of times as they walked past her and simply walked into the office without Mac's invitation.

"I had you waiting a little too long, hadn't I?" He said and watched as his soldier closed the door behind her. She took her regular position sitting in front of his desk and MacMillan smiled. "You look better than when I first saw you. And far better than when I had to get you out of hospital. Just look what a few years can do to a person."

"You think I look better than when I first came here?" She asked thinking of her old past self, the one that was constantly happy and healthy as well completely in love with MacTavish. In comparison to that she was definitely worse and gave General a questioning look.

"Your hair makes you look a lot younger than before and of course your scars seem less visible, don't you think?" He asked and lit up his cigar.

Nathalie noticed he was in better mood than usual and decided to keep it that way. She rolled up her sleeves to reveal her skin. There was some discoloration left here and there, where old scars used to be. The only noticeable ones were the recent that she made when locked up by Makarov but even them were slowly healing and might even be unnoticeable. She looked up to General who was staring at her arms. "It does seem better when you think about it." Nathalie whispered.

"Battle scars. No soldier that has ever been deployed came back clean. It leaves marks, some might be physical some might be mental. I believe that these are your battle scars, the only ones that are left there. Everything else is in the past already." General smiled to her and leaned back in his chair relaxing. It seemed that age and stress had its toll on him but he was still going strong. He also managed to keep Nathalie going too and the rest of Hereford base.

She rolled down her sleeves and looked down at the ground. Was it really in the past? It really was past, she was safe in her loveable home there at the Hereford and only her own brain managed to make her feel bad about the past. "It's all in the past." She repeated the words that were on her mind while she was still staring at the floor intensely. Nathalie thought of what happened before and it all seemed fine until the worst moments popped into her mind. When she was aiming her pistol at John was heart-breaking and she couldn't forgive herself for that. A person that's in love wouldn't try to kill the person that they love, right? "It's in the past but it's still there." She mumbled to herself and it got all out of hand when the memories started replaying in her mind out of control. Those times where she couldn't protect herself, all dirty, naked, and unable to scream for help. Nathalie tensed up and closed her eyes immediately gripping the edge of her seat to the point where her fingers and knuckles turned completely pale. Panic went through her body and she stopped breathing paralysed from the horror of those moments.

General noticed that and without wasting time stood up from his seat. He put down his cigar on the ashtray and walked around the desk to his young soldier. It was a little difficult for him to move as fast as he would want to because of the old battlefield injuries. With one hand he snapped his fingers in front of her face and the other hand he tried to loosen up her grip on the chair. "It's past and it's not here. You are safe here." He said softly and gently now using both of his hands took her hands. "It's a nightmare, a bad dream. Just breathe."

She opened her eyes that were tearing up and took a deep breath to calm herself. It was working way better than it used to before and it took her a minute to calm down. When Nathalie was ready to talk MacMillan let go of her hands and walked back to his seat. He grabbed his cigar and waited for her to start the conversation. "It's past and it should fucking stay there." Said Silver with her voice a little shaky but it looked like she was ready to move on.

"I guess we are ready to talk about some other business." General smiled to her once again and after shuffling papers on his desk for a while he took what seemed like a letter. He put down his cigar and unfolding bunch of papers MacMillan pulled out a picture. "I have a present for you." He said and reached it out to Nathalie who was surprised to see that it was a picture of her and MacTavish.

She took it and nostalgia just took over her body, it was a memory of them off of service time just a few days after Silver got Blue. "Where did you get this?" She asked unable to look away from their smiling faces portrayed in the picture.

"It came together with this." Said MacMillan and gave Nathalie the papers that the photograph was folded inside before. "They were found among Simons' things in Colchester. There was no envelope but it was obvious Captain MacTavish wouldn't have sent a love letter to him. Depending on the picture it belongs to you. And personally I didn't read it."

Nathalie took the pages carefully and put them underneath the photograph feeling her fingers starting to shake holding onto the paper. She was curious what was written there but mixed feelings were overwhelming her. Silver knew that there should have been good things written since it was taken by Simons and all the horrors that happened. On the other hand it must have been something heart-breaking because from those events and beginning of her recovery John did not come into contact with her not even once. Nathalie was wondering whether it was worth reading or not stuck in an endless dilemma.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by MacMillan beginning another discussion. "I had a chat about Sanderson's condition and still decided to offer you a mission deployment." He said making Nathalie forget all of her personal matters and concentrate on the real deal.

"A mission, sir? I can't imagine a single mission his disruptive cough wouldn't ruin." She stated clearly disagreeing with such General's offer.

"Nothing too serious. As you should know there is a civil war in Ukraine and there is a VIP, UK citizen that we need to extract." MacMillan took a small pause to take another puff of his cigar and then simply took it out into the ashtray. "The area has been retaken by the soldiers fighting the rebellion. All you have to do is go there, find the building where they are sheltering the civilians, and lead him to LZ. Nothing you couldn't handle and something he can write in his dossier when applying for selection."

"That really doesn't seem like too much trouble. Fine. We'll do it." Said Nathalie after listening to the situation. She didn't think Gary was in any condition to fight a real fight but since no battle was waiting Silver agreed to do an exception.

"Perfect. You two are leaving in twenty minutes to reach Ukraine before the sunset. Dismissed." Smiled MacMillan to her.

Nathalie nodded and stood up from her seat carefully checking if she took everything that General gave to her. A little unsure whether she did the right choice Silver left the building to see Blue sitting where she left him. He quickly got on his feet and took his regular position next to her. They walked back to the barracks where Nathalie barged in the younger soldier room without knocking.

"Sanderson, we have a mission."


	14. Chapter 13

Nathalie walked through a city located in south of Ukraine with Sanderson following her lead. It was getting dark early since it was early winter and the city was dangerously quiet. There were barricades everywhere around buildings that were mostly deserted. The two of them were getting close to the location where Ukrainian soldiers had to meet them and it seemed like the situation was worse than they thought at first. When they reached the place no one was waiting for them and Silver got suspicious why there wasn't a single soldier. She picked up her rifle in a fighting position and walked forward just to stop couple of steps ahead.

"Why are you standing still?" Lieutenant asked when she turned around and looked at Sanderson. He was about to say something and she just cut him off. "I don't care what you have to say, Sergeant. Obviously something is wrong but we don't have time to sit around and wonder 'oh, no, what happened'. Get moving."

Nathalie said firmly and waited for him to respond. Sanderson didn't dare to object and lifted his rifle catching up with his superior. Silver took a few steps backwards when her friend got closer and quickly turned around to go the same direction they were headed first. They moved fairly quickly but completely empty streets and buildings didn't mean anything good so they had to take all the precautions needed. Both of them were constantly checking streets and windows for anyone scouting on them. Without seeing a single person they continued walking up until they heard gunshots and explosions. They stopped to look for the direction sounds were coming from and saw a soldier running at them from the side. Nathalie aimed at him trying to understand if he was one of the good Ukrainians or not.

"You're the British soldiers, right?" Shouted down the street putting his arms in the air. "We need your help."

"How do we know that you are not an enemy?" Asked Nathalie holding her rifle up with her fingers gripping it tightly.

"I forgot the callsign. Kak eto tam? (How is that?) Odin? Oedipus?" Soldier mumbled a little bit to himself. "Ah, odyssey."

"Yes, and the counterpart is adventure." Silver put down her weapon and took a few steps forward. "I'm Lieutenant Silver and this is Sergeant Sanderson." Nathalie nodded towards Gary and waved her hand for him to lower his rifle.

"It's good that you're here. The resistance attacked us when we were moving the people out of the part that we managed to retake. Our soldiers can't fight them and secure the civilians at the same time." Explained the situation Ukrainian.

"And I assume our VIP is in the hands of resistance." Exclaimed Silver a little unhappy with the turnout of the situation.

"Yes."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way." She said and they picked up the pace. The gunfight was just a few blocks away and they jogged towards it trying not to waste any time. As they got closer the whole mess was clearly visible. Soldiers were leading civilians away from the fight. Many of them were injured from explosions that occurred in that part of the city. It was obvious from the dust and debris all covering the roads and buildings missing walls.

"Over here." Said soldier leading the two Bravo Six members and walked inside the building that used to be a supermarket. It was a great place to establish a temporary HQ as the place could supply anything for basic personal needs of both soldiers and civvies. Nathalie looked around the place and noticed the person that she was being led to. Ukrainian stopped by table where the leader was and announced the visitors to his leader. "Captain, these are the British soldiers."

"Sir." Said Nathalie walking closer to them. "What's the situation?"

"Lieutenant." Greeted her the leader of current Ukraine forces in that location. He leaned over the table where the map of the city was resting. There was a lot of scribbling with marker on it with locations marked. "The resistance captured this part of the city. We had our forces over here when we found the Englishman and called you. It looked like we had the situation under control." He explained and trailed his finger over the lines on the map when he was interrupted by a horrifying coughing from Sanderson.

He seemed getting out of breath when he couldn't stop coughing. Gary covered his mouth with his palm and tried to suppress the spasms in his chest but he couldn't do anything. Nathalie put her hand on his shoulder and whispered. "Go outside and take a deep breath. I'll be there in a minute."

When she turned back to the Captain Nathalie received a sceptical look. "What?" She asked bluntly.

"Did they really send a sick soldier?" He asked as if making fun of UK actions.

"We were supposed to come here and simply lead the VIP out of the city to the LZ. Exercise would have been good for him. But the situation changed without us knowing and you could just get to the strategy here we could just retake the city and move our separate ways." Said Nathalie and put her palms onto the table around the map. She pointed her finger to one building. "That's where the civilians were held when you were moving them. If I take one or two of your soldiers we can flank our enemies through here and then secure this area. It will create some distraction and make your job easier here."

Captain was visibly not happy with her cockiness but after a quick chat with surrounding soldiers he agreed to lend one of his soldiers to her. He also advised her to change the channel of her comms that he could contact her at any time. Silver thanked and walked around the supermarket for a little bit until she found some cough syrup for her little sick baby. As she was leaving the HQ Captain called her and asked "How did you know where they were?"

"It was written on your map. I'm familiar with Slavic languages." She smiled and left the supermarket with another soldier following her. Silver quickly walked up to Gary and threw the bottle at him. He barely managed to react and catch it.

"What's this?" He asked turning the bottle with pink liquid inside of it.

"Cough syrup. It should help you breathe easier." She said and nodded to him to follow her. Silver walked around now with two younger soldiers following her towards the flank that she decided to take. It was starting to get dark which was a thing they desperately tried to avoid leaving their base. Their fight was going to be more difficult than it would usually be during the day and by the plan they weren't even supposed to fight that day. Nathalie was concerned about Gary's wellbeing and even considered leaving him with Ukrainians to stay out of the fight but decided he was her responsibility and the only way to take good enough care was to take him with her.

"Alright from here on everyone is hostile." Said Nathalie when they reached concrete wall that served as a barricade. There were a couple soldiers in groups of two guarding the wall to make sure no one got over it from the other side. She ran towards it and jumped up to catch the ledge and pulled herself up swinging one of her legs over. Silver straightened up and looked around. There wasn't a single soul around and she nodded to her small team to move up. She leaned down to give each of the two soldiers a lift up.

Once they were on the other side Silver dashed towards the nearest wall and commanded them to stack up behind her. "We have no idea what is happening around here so we'll have to be cautious. Hug the walls and look for any possible cover. Oh, if you see anyone hostile - shoot."

Lieutenant picked up her weapon and began moving forward checking every corner and every shadow. They were moving fairly slowly because of Sanderson's condition. They weren't spotted by the enemies but if he started coughing and they actually heard him at least they wouldn't have to fight off a large amount of enemies right away. But even that strategy did not work for long. After a few blocks they reached the place where all of the enemies were nesting. Alleys were full of patrols and soldiers were walking through the buildings, checking every apartment for any civvies. Nathalie scanned her visible area and came up with a risky plan. "Go back into this building. I'll create a small distraction and we'll be able to have some cover for our attack."

"Isn't there a way to sneak past them?" Asked Ukrainian.

Silver shook her head and the two if her subordinates moved backwards to the first open door to the building. Nathalie looked at them with the corner of her eye and when they were inside she grabbed a small piece of debris and threw it at the window that she saw one of the enemies walk past. Sound of breaking glass attracted few hostiles while the rest were watching them solve this issue. Silver ran towards the entrance that her soldiers used and disappeared inside the building. She closed the door and walked away from it watching younger soldiers push a bookshelf over it. "We will have to wait for them to spread out more looking for the one who broke the window." She said and walked through the hallway carefully looking at every open door trying to avoid being seen through the windows.

"At my signal you will start firing at them. You kill one then change the window you shoot from so they can't know our exact location. Might even go to upper floors." Silver crouched by the wall and waited a little bit for her team to do the same. "Any other entrances?"

"We blocked it off." Said Sanderson sniffling a little bit. This trip was no good for him because it lasted for longer than anyone expected.

After a couple of minutes they began their fight with resistance and it looked like Nathalie's strategy was confusing them quite well. They couldn't pinpoint their exact location and the three of them managed to thin out resistance forces. Eventually they noticed the broken windows but still noticing when or where they will appear was impossible. Their fight lasted about half an hour until they could easily leave the building and drop the last of the enemies. It was quite tiresome for them but it looked like the fight took its toll on Gary.

"Sanderson, how are you feeling? Do you need to rest?" Asked Silver looking at her subordinate though still aiming her rifle towards the open area of the city.

"I'm fine, just give me a second." He answered and lowered his weapon. Gary searched through his pockets to take out a small bottle with pills that he got from medics earlier that day. He opened it and shook out two pills onto his palm. Without waiting he threw them into his mouth and swallowed while closing the bottle. Sanderson nodded that he was ready to go.

"Okay. Let's go. We are fairly close to the building, just watch out for an ambush. They already know we're here." Said Nathalie and moved on down the street. It seemed quiet with just gunfire in a distance to be heard.

"Lieutenant, whatever you did it worked well enough. They're retreating." It was the first time they heard Captain talking through the coms after they left the HQ. He seemed satisfied with the situation. Of course, who wouldn't want the pressure taken off of his soldiers? But Nathalie saw a worse side to it.

"Then your men need to push them harder than they are retreating. We might not reach the civilians on time and resistance will simply move them." Said Nathalie picking up the pace. There was plenty of fighting done that day and she had to get both VIP and Sanderson to safety, especially when his condition was getting worse. By the primary plan they had to be flying back to UK at the time they were rushing those alleyways to find the VIP.

Silver felt a little bit more relieved when she saw soldiers in a little bit familiar uniform going forward guns blazing. It was about time they regrouped as it was fairly dark and one could hardly understand who was friendly and who's not. They walked out into the open of the street and immediately noticed a large hotel on their left. That's where the civvies were and where they all were headed. Nathalie asked one of the Ukrainians about the situation and he replied that the resistance is retreating and no one left the hotel. She thanked him and slowed down watching the soldiers spread out and take ground control. They were almost at the entrance when sound of shattering glass and someone shouting 'Sniper' mixed up. Nathalie only realised what happened when a bullet whizzed past her. She turned to see Sanderson flying to the ground and walked around him to get hold of his armour straps and pull him to cover. Sergeant groaned while his grip around his rifle loosened. Nathalie kneeled to his left when there was enough cover to evade any more bullets that might be flying towards them.

"Sanderson, do you hear me?" She asked ripping his armour off of his chest and abdomen to see where the bullet hit him. Nathalie knew that it didn't go through him because there was no bloody trail where she dragged him and so she had to take care of the wound. She took out the dressing and pressed it onto the bleeding wound and listened to her Sergeant mumble some kind of gibberish.

"Lieutenant Silver." Nathalie heard a voice behind her. "We found your man, he's safe and sound."

"Thank you. Could you kindly bring him here? We will be leaving immediately." She said without looking at the man behind her. Without even caring about his response Silver pulled up the dressing to reveal the wound with the bleeding slowed down. Nathalie took a clean dressing and put it over the wound sticking it to his chest with a tape. She secured his weapon at his side and slowly relaxed waiting for their man to be brought outside. Sanderson was going to be okay and they secured their VIP so she had nothing to worry about.

"Here's your guy." Said one of the Ukrainians leading a man towards her.

"Excellent. We'll be leaving then." Nathalie smiled and lifted herself up from the ground at the same time pulling up Gary. She swung his arm around her neck and picked him up on her shoulders. He was heavy for what Nathalie was used to carrying when working out but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. It was her duty as a leader to take care of him. "Follow me." She said and began walking past all of the Ukrainian soldiers to the direction of the LZ. Their helicopter was in safe distance waiting for her to call them and she got to it right away. Nathalie didn't want the young Sergeant to bleed out in her arms since there were plenty of people she had lost in her life. Just that little bit of thinking about the losses brought memories about Simons back. The images of his vandalised body flew through her mind and made her shiver. Silver tried to keep her focus on the mission while walking through the wrecked city but she couldn't stop after she found a pattern between the two of her subordinates. Both of the relationships started with lots of issues and lack of trust, she did all she could to avoid both of them but in the end Nathalie just didn't have a choice but to stick with them. Eventually she took a liking on both of those guys and got quite friendly. Though in the end one of them died and the other one was bleeding out while she was carrying him in hope that it wasn't anything serious. It was a little bit relieving to hear him mumble something under his breath as they reached their transport.

"What happened?" Asked co-pilot looking at her over his shoulder.

"We encountered some unexpected obstacles." Said Nathalie and laid Sanderson over a couple of seats. She turned around to give a hand to the man that had to be brought to safety and as he was safe in his seat Silver said. "Take us to the hospital."

It was a really long day for Nathalie and so she sat down on a big chair that was in the same room where they kept Sanderson. She brought him to the hospital where they immediately started his operation. During that time Silver managed to fly back to base and secure their VIP, receive a warm but worried welcome from MacMillan and fly back to hospital. It took doctors a couple of hours to fix young Sergeant up and it was already getting late. She looked at his calm expression as he was laying in the hospital bed unconscious and decided that she needed to get some rest herself. Silver still was in her battle clothes that were a little dirty but sadly she didn't think of taking some clean ones while at the base. The only thing she could think about was Sanderson and his situation. She knew very well that she did all she could and the rest was at the hands of faith. According to the doctors that she talked with a little earlier he was going to be alright. Nathalie felt relieved as she was looking at him. She was snoozing just a few minutes later.

* * *

In the morning Nathalie was the first one to wake up. She looked over to Gary and when he didn't show any signs of waking up any time soon she walked outside where she met some nurses. One of them got her a cup of coffee since Nathalie herself did have any money. She was really sweet and kept a casual conversation with Silver while working at the reception. It was a good distraction for both of them; nurse was about to finish her night shift and only needed to wait for another nurse to take her place while Nathalie needed to stop thinking about her subordinate. After the nurses changed and she emptied the cup of coffee Nathalie walked down the stairs to the ground floor and left the hospital for a small walk. She stopped at a far corner of the where there weren't any people and pulled out a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. Nathalie promised herself to quit so many times but always fell back to it. To make things a little better she didn't buy any cheap brands that left a horrible smell in her hair, clothes, and on her skin. Nathalie lit up one of them but a second later she threw it on the ground and put it out. She was visiting a hospital and it seemed fairly inappropriate to smoke at the time. Instead of that Silver went for a little longer walk around the hospitals territory.

After an hour Nathalie walked back to the hospital and took the stairs to the floor where her friend was kept at. One of the nurses who noticed her coming back walked closer and smile. "Ma'am, your friend is awake." Said the nurse and Nathalie thanked and nodded walking past her and the reception desk.

'Ma'am? Do I really look that old?' She thought to herself while taking bold steps towards the room that she left a little more than an hour ago. Nathalie smiled and opened the door eager to see how Sanderson was doing. She walked in and closed the door behind her noticing that Gary was just as eager to see her. "Morning." She said and walked up to his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Awesome, when can I start training?" Were his response and Nathalie really wanted to smack him for good though he was in no condition for that.

"Can you get that shit out of your head?" She asked crossing her arms on her chest. The kid was driving her crazy though she was almost the same like him. When she had to stay in hospital for a couple of months all she could think of was training. Getting stronger to get her revenge. But after all she was the superior and had to keep his mind on the right track. "If I hear you mention selection at least once until March you will be on your own."

"Why March?" He asked clearly confused by the selection of time.

"The selection will be during the first week of March. I already planned all of our actions out until then." Explained Nathalie. She really had it all mapped out for them from the very first day of January. "When you leave hospital it will be time for holidays that I hope you will spend with family. You will be grateful you've done that when you leave the country with the Task Force. Then up until March we will concentrate less on your overall skills and work more on how to get good results on the tasks you will have during selection. Happy with the plan?"

"Absolutely. I think I couldn't get a better leader than you." Smiled Sanderson and started coughing. Nathalie almost forgot that he was super sick and smiled at him softly.


	15. Chapter 14

Sanderson's recovery went well and so he and Nathalie were back at the training in no time. Two months were plenty to prepare Sergeant for most of the challenges he would meet during the selection. Overall Silver didn't think her trainee was ready for anything a serious task force had to deal with but she decided to leave all that preparation for MacTavish because she knew that Sanderson was going to pass selection. He couldn't fail after the hell she pushed him through. Poor boy put his heart into all that she made him do. Nathalie smiled at the thought of bringing someone up, teaching him almost everything she knew. She was proud of her work and proud of him.

Silver packed her bags for the leave she asked from MacMillan. It was the end of February and almost the time for the selection that Gary just couldn't wait for. Nathalie wanted to see him succeed but decided that it would be better if he was all on his own during that time. But more importantly she wanted to avoid seeing John. She didn't want all of her fears to be confronted and didn't want to feel heartbroken for all the things that were happening between them. It was easier to live in a never ending denial than to face reality. That was one of the reasons she couldn't read his letter. She sat down on the bed next to her bags and held the pieces of paper between her fingers. Nathalie flipped them around unable to open them. She knew that when he wrote that things weren't that bad between them. Silver pulled out a picture that came with the letter and put it over the pages. The two of them looked so happy together for Nathalie it felt like it was just a dream. It was a while since she felt so happy.

While she was reminiscing about the good times someone came and knocked on her door. Blue who was snoozing by her feet suddenly became alert but calmed down when heard his owner speak.

"Come in." She said and hid the picture in between the pages.

Silver didn't want anyone to see it even if basically everyone knew about their romance from a couple of years ago. She looked at the door and saw her Sergeant shyly peek inside. Nathalie smiled to him and so he crept inside full body. It was one of the rare moments that he got inside her room and he felt a little unusual. He seemed lost in between all of the thoughts he had because just emotions overwhelmed him. Blue got on his feet and walked up to the sergeant wagging his tail. It looked like he was encouraging the younger soldier to interact with Silver. It seemed that Gary got quickly distracted by the puppy that he started petting.

"Was there something you needed?" Silver asked with a friendly tone. It might have been one of the last times she saw him therefore it was the only time for her to show her softness and friendliness.

"Yeah, I had to tell you something, but..." he stopped in the middle of the sentence which seemed like he had forgotten what he wanted. Gary looked around the room and his eyes caught the sight of her packed bags. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked after little hesitation.

"Yes, I am taking my leave for a couple of weeks. I was actually about to leave." Said Nathalie and shoved the letter into one of the bags she had. Then she waved to her dog and he walked up to her and gently licked her hands.

"But why?" Asked Gary and took one step closer. He looked at Nathalie a little sad knowing he couldn't talk her into staying. Moreover he knew he shouldn't even try to do it because firstly she was his superior, and secondly even if he didn't care about the ranks they weren't that familiar with one another.

"I spent a lot of time here. Over half a year without a leave, if we do not count the holidays in." Answered Nathalie and brushed her fingers through her hair. "Besides I haven't had time for myself concentrating on your training. I really start to look homeless." She moved her head so that Gary was facing the shaven side. Hair from that part was growing back and no matter how much she trimmed them getting that clean cut look wasn't easy. Her roots were also awfully overgrown and the dark brown was shining through the brightly bleached colour. She did bleach her hair on new year but it was almost two months since then.

"If you ask me I think you still look good." Said Sanderson shifting his weight from one foot to another. He rubbed his a little sweaty hands together with a feeling that he was being a little inappropriate.

"Thanks." Silver smiled to him once again. She then stood up and picked up all of the bags she had packed. There were only three of them and one was half empty but she didn't have a smaller one to fit all her things inside.

"So you're leaving already?" Asked Gary a little sad when she turned around to face him. He hesitated for a moment but then he took a step closer and threw his arms around her to pull into a warm embrace.

For a second there Nathalie was shocked and couldn't comprehend what happened. She gently patted him on the back with her palm and pulled away from him when she caught up with the situation. "Relax, it's not the last time you see me. I'll be back on the last day of selection to wish you a good service at Task Force."

He pulled away from her a little surprised with her words. She already knew that he was going to pass selection. She was sure Gary was ready and that boosted his confidence. He smiled at her for the first time that day and thanked for her help throughout those long months. Nathalie nodded towards the door and he hurried to open them. Just as she was right there about to cross the doorway he shut the door in front of her face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Asked Nathalie in a little too harsh tone and turned to scold him even more.

"I'm sorry. I remembered what I came here in the first place." He said freaked out from her sudden aggression and thought she would attack him but when she stood there waiting for explanation Gary decided to continue. "Bravo Six is waiting for you in the common room."

"Bravo Six? Tell them I disappeared." She said and pushed him away from the door. Nathalie opened it and stepped outside of her room. Silver walked down the hallway passing the common room and stopped by the entrance to explain why she didn't want to see them. "I told Marcus that if he makes any surprises for my birthday I will cut him. And you know what? I am really not in a mood for that."

Sanderson stood by her room door and nodded. It was his job to invite her and she refused the invitation. He watched her leave the building and felt the sadness creep over his body. She did all she could to prepare him for selection and his new life in TF but she didn't tell him how difficult it would be to leave the place and soldiers that became almost like a family to him.

* * *

Nathalie began her vacation very pleasantly. She cleaned her apartment to the point it was shiny and squeaky clean, had her hair fixed at beauty salon, and visited the family she had. It was one of the rare moments where she felt that everything was fine in her life. There was no danger, no pain, and no worries. Thanks to Blue going out on daily morning runs in a park with her, she stopped caring about changes because the only thought that could follow up was that it all was to end right there and then. Like a calm before the storm.

Silver didn't let all that bring her down and left her apartment with Blue. It was early afternoon and they already went on their morning run that day but the weather was so nice and warm compared to usual winter weather that she wanted to enjoy it a little more. As she closed the door behind her Nathalie noticed a note on her door. She took it off and read it out loud. "Hyde park at 2pm."

It might have looked like a prank to her if only the writing wasn't so familiar. It wasn't her father nor was it John but she definitely knew the person who left it on her door. Nathalie checked the time to see that she had an hour to get there. 'Look at this positively, Silver.' She thought and looked at Blue who was patiently waiting for her.

"We're going to a park, buddy." She said to her loyal companion who let out an excited bark. Wagging his tail Blue followed Nathalie who was walking down the stairs. They left the house and casually strolled down the street with Blue never leaving her side. Silver looked around unable to find anyone around the area. Hyde park covered a large area and unless someone followed her they couldn't possibly know where she was. She tried to figure out whether anyone was already following her or whoever left the note was going to meet her by the entrance.

As Nathalie reached more crowded streets she attached the leash on Blue even though he didn't really needed one. It was just a good practice to follow the rules. Even as a fighting dog he never attacked anyone without her command. He was one of the best friends Nathalie could dream of. They walked together continuously and didn't stop to look around anymore. Lieutenant was constantly looking at the people they walked past to see if any of them were just a little bit familiar. Without noticing anything they reached the Grand entrance. It wasn't a new place for her; in the past the two of them did a lot of walking around the famous places of London and knew the location perfectly.

They passed through the entrance and walking along the way Nathalie noticed that for the first time someone was following her. She couldn't turn around and catch a glimpse of the person and only could create the image that she caught in the corner of her eye while watching the winter's scenery in the park. She turned a few times changing ways to make sure the person was still following her. When Nathalie decided that the place was least crowded and barely anyone was passing by she sat down on a bench. Blue found his way to sit down between her feet and looked around in non-alert fashion. Silver gently moved her hands scratching and petting Blue waiting for the person following her to come closer. She didn't turn to look directly at him but stared at the certain points in the distance. She didn't even need to look at the person to know who that was; peripheral vision gave her enough information to understand who came up to her and sat down on the bench next to her.

"Roman. Don't you think calling would have been enough? All this dramatic following is a little too much, don't you think?" She said and leaned back still looking in front of her.

"I was afraid you wouldn't answer." Said the man sitting next to her. He was leaning to the front with his elbows on his knees. His head was hanging low not because of shame but more because of sadness and tiredness.

"I might have not. No one knows." Mumbled Silver. At the moment her thoughts were wandering from being thankful she survived to become stronger and able to defeat her father to then never ending count of how many other possibilities her life outcome had. "What is the reason you are here? I doubt that my father managed to give up the thought of me working for him but I didn't think he'd come back after me once again."

"It's because he didn't. I came looking for you by myself." He slowly leaned up and straightened his back. Roman looked closely at his crush and how much she changed. He saw that she wasn't the person that he adored in the past. Nathalie neither looked nor acted like before and he felt a little guilty for the change but he couldn't get the apology out, the words just got stuck in his throat. He knew it was better to feel the guilt than to remind her of what happened.

"So why did you seek me, Roman?" She asked casually still keeping her gaze forward and not moving a slightest bit towards him.

"You asked me to work for you and I truly want to do it. I even have some others who want to turn their backs on Makarov." He explained with a small amount of excitement and passion in his voice. The change of thought seemed to make him feel more at ease. "When you left... well, when they brought you home, your father went completely mad."

"Firstly, he is not my father, he honestly never was. Secondly, he was mad all along." Nathalie shook her head and stretched her legs out in front of her. Blue looked at her and without seeing a reason to react got back to watching the surroundings. Silver always had a soft spot if anything involved Makarov but this time her reaction was a lot different. It really looked like there was nothing left in her; a blank page, no emotions, no fears, but only one desire. "He has to die."

"That's why I am here. We need to kill him."

"We cannot. Not right now, at least." Shook her head Nathalie. "I can't get to him even if you give me his location. Taking down his army is impossible. And if you try to do it yourself, you'll be killed before you get to him. The fact that you are here means that he doesn't think of you as a close friend anymore."

"We have to do something. I have some loose ends that might be worth looking at." Said Roman and glanced around the park feeling a little bit pressured as if someone was following him. He then turned back to Nathalie and proceeded to talk. "Makarov has money and it buys him power. He brought someone high in the government who got you and your team to go to Africa last year. Don't know how he is connected to military but Makarov wants us to end him. Might be worth to look into."

"Well then you and your group of opposition can check it out. I'm still a soldier on duty. If anyone sees me with a terrorist I am done." She said and bit her tongue. Silver didn't want to be so direct and harsh straight up calling him a terrorist. She resented such people and despite having some hard feelings towards him she didn't hate him completely. "Look, I know you're trying to help but right now we are quite helpless. I hope you can find something useful with those loose ends but for now you're on your own."

"How are we supposed to take Makarov down then?" Roman seemed a little bit frustrated by the thought that he couldn't do anything serious. He wanted to get through it right there and then because his life was on the edge. Traitors were not treated well and he was one of them. His heart was racing when he thought of Makarov cutting up the two men. He could end up in their place. Roman shook his head and concentrated on what Nathalie had to say.

"We will have to wait for the world to bow down to him. We will have to wait for Makarov to go in full power. Only then we will be able to overthrow the King." Said Silver and for the first time that day looked directly at the man who was sitting next to her.


End file.
